EOTHEN 




LONDON: GEORGE BELL AND SONS: 1898 



MS 



CHTSWICK PRESS I — CHARLES WHITTINGHAM AND CO. 
TOOKS COURT, CHANCERY LANE, LONDON. 




CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Introduction ix 

Preface xxi 

CHAP. 

I. Over the Border i 

II. Journey from Belgrade to Constantin- 
ople 12 

III. Constantinople 26 

IV. The Troad 35 

V. Infidel Smyrna 42 

VI. Greek Mariners 53 

VII. Cyprus 62 

VIII. Lady Hester Stanhope . . . . 69 

IX. The Sanctuary 94 

X. The Monks of the Holy Land . .98 

XI. From Nazareth to Tiberias . . .105 

XII. My first Bivouac 109 

XIII. The Dead Sea . ... 117 

XIV. The Black Tents 123 

XV. Passage of the Jordan .... 126 

XVI. Terra Santa 132 

XVII. The Desert 149 

XVIII. Cairo and the Plague .... 173 

XIX. The Pyramids 198 

XX. The Sphynx 202 

XXI. Cairo to Suez 204 

XXII. Suez 212 

XXIII. Suez to Gaza 218 

XXIV. Gaza to Nablous 225 

XXV. Mariam 230 

XXVI. The Prophet Damoor . . . .239 

XXVII. Damascus 244 

XXVIII. Pass of the Lebanon . 252 
XXIX. Surprise of Satalieh 256 

Index of Names 265 



ILLUSTRATIONS 

"Eastern Travel .... Frontispiece 

^Passage of the Jordan . . Face p. 130 

i Map of the Author's Route . . . End 



INTRODUCTION 



THE charm of a First Edition appeals to literary 
rather f han to dilettante instinct. An Editio 
Princeps, the first appearance in type of a Book 
long extant in manuscript, illustrates the progress 
not of letters but of typography ; its value lies in 
printing, paper, colophon, irrespective of our interest 
in the writer whom it embalms. But a First Edition 
is the actual birth of a new book; it brings us 
nearer to the author whom we love by the immediate 
transference into book form of his creations, fresh 
from his devising and correcting pen, and reflecting 
his joy in their production. The development of 
this feeling during the last few years, evidenced by 
the extraordinary prices paid for earliest impressions 
of books like " The Vicar of Wakefield," " The Com- 
plete Angler," or " The Essays of Elia," bespeak not 
bibliomaniac craze but genuine literary feeling; 
feeling indeed so genuine as to be satisfied where 
the originals are unattainable with exact reprints, 
rendering no less faithfully the spontaneous produce 
of a favourite author's brain, free from the later 
revisions, which impair rather than improve its 
freshness. 

This volume therefore claims acceptance as an 
accurate reprint of the now scarce First Edition. It 
preserves the eccentric punctuation of an ungram- 



X 



INTRODUCTION 



matical Etonian in pre-local-examination days ; the 
original headings of the chapters; words and 
phrases, near seventy in number, altered in the later 
issues; long paragraphs subsequently omitted or 
transposed. We read, for instance, in the third 
edition that the author emerged from his Dead Sea 
bath, "his skin thickly encrusted with salt." It 
stands here on p. 122 as " sulphate of magnesia," 
a quaint venture by an unscientific man, which 
would have added pungency to Huxley's famous 
sneer, as proving Lot's wife to have been changed 
into Epsom salts. The altered sentence, " in that 
there was true hospitality," appears here on p. 179 
as "that touch was worthy of Jove"; while the 
still scarcely intelligible "enure for salvation" 
stands (p. 142) originally as inure. Eothen appears 
as Eothen. We find retained on p. 203 the com- 
pliment to Eliot Warburton ; restored too his in- 
teresting note on p. 84, erased in the third edition 
after the publication of his " Crescent and Cross." 
The large, curious, coloured folding plate, which 
formed the frontispiece in the first edition, was 
afterwards rendered by a coarser uncoloured litho- 
graph, not nearly so accurate as the picture here 
transferred. It was drawn and painted by Kinglake, 
and was compared by the critics to a tea tray. The 
" Tatar " is perched upon his little steed, as he 
appeared impressed in shining gold on the original 
cover. The two foremost of the figures in the rear 
stand for Mysseri, and Steel the Yorkshire servant, 
his striped " pantry jacket " coloured in the folding 
plate, " looking out for gentlemen's seats." Behind 
is Methley, Lord Pollington, in a broad-brimmed 
hat ; and the leg and boot of Kinglake, who 



INTRODUCTION 



xi 



modestly hid his figure by a tree, but exposed his 
foot, of which he was very proud. Of the other 
characters, Carrigaholt was Henry Stuart Burton of 
Carrigaholt, County Clare; "Our Lady of Bitter- 
ness," p. xxi, was the name given by Thackeray, 
Browning, and Kinglake to witty shrewish Ann 
Skepper, daughter of Basil Montagu's third wife, 
and herself the wife of Barry Cornwall ; whose 
sarcasm once stung Crabb Robinson into his one 
ill-natured speech : anecdotes of herself and of her 
crisp, biting talk are given in Fanny Kemble's 
" Recollections." An error rectified in the third 
edition, the substitution of Jove for Neptune on 
pp. 40, 41, is here indicated in a note; another, 
on p. 245, deserves correction. It is true that 
an attempt was made to non-placet Mr. Everett's 
honorary degree in the Oxford Theatre on the 
ground of his being a Unitarian ; not true that it 
succeeded. It was a conspiracy by the young lions 
of the Newmania, who had organized a formidable 
opposition to the degree, and would have created a 
painful scene even if defeated. But the Proctor of 
that year, Jelf, happened to be the most-hated 
official of the century; and the furious groans of 
undergraduate displeasure at his presence, continu- 
ing unabated for three-quarters of an hour, com- 
pelled the Vice-Chancellor to break up the Assembly, 
without recitation of the prizes, but not without 
conferring the degrees in dumb show : unconscious 
Mr. Everett smilingly took his place in red gown 
among the Doctors, the Vice-Chancellor asserting 
afterwards, what was true in the letter though not 
in the spirit, that he did not hear the non-placets. 
So while Everett was obnoxious to the Puseyites, 



xii 



INTRODUCTION 



Jelf was obnoxious to the undergraduates * the ca: 
nonade of the angry youngsters drowned the odiui 
of the theological malcontents : 

" Another lion gave another roar, 

And the first lion thought the last a bore." 

For a complete Memoir of Kinglake there are n 
materials ; by his dying request all his recoverabl 
letters and papers were destroyed. The men wh 
knew him in his prime, who dined with him an 
shared his talk behind the glass screen at th 
Athenaeum, Milnes, Hayward, Massey, Merivak 
Twisleton, American Ticknor, and their brilliar 
sodales, have all passed away : as has his favourit 
brother, Dr. Kinglake, himself a man at once greatl 
beloved and highly gifted, and the brilliant sistc 
whom Thackeray noted as the cleverest woman h 
had ever met. Some Sibylline leaves there ar 
which the wind has not scattered beyond recall j If 
us gather and piece them while we may. He ws 
born at Taunton, arid® nutrix for a young man c 
promise ; its religion imbecile, its society Philistint 
its politics consistently venal. But his mother wa 
a woman of great personal charm and with n 
ordinary powers of mind ; more than once he write 
of her with devoted gratitude ; it is recorded that o 
the day of her funeral, at a churchyard five mile 
away, he was missed from the family group reasserr 
bled in the mourning home : he was found to hav 
ordered his horse, and galloped back in the darl 
ness to his mother's grave. She belonged to an ol 
Somersetshire family, the Woodfordes of Castl 
Cary ; it was as his mother's son that Lady Heste 
Stanhope, her neighbour long before at Burto 



INTRODUCTION 



xiii 



Pynsent, received him in her Lebanon stronghold. 
He went to Eton and to Cambridge : debarred by 
short-sightedness from the military profession which 
above all others he would have preferred, he was 
called to the Bar and gained an extensive Chancery 
practice. His visit to the East was in 1834 — the 
date is given on p. 190, but he afterwards suppressed 
it — when he was only twenty-three years old, and 
lasted fifteen months. Brought out in 1844, after 
being rejected by several publishers, " Eothen " at 
once became popular, passing in the following year 
through three fresh editions. In 1857 he entered 
Parliament for Bridgwater, broke down in his first 
speech, and it is said never spoke again : he enjoyed, 
however, his Parliamentary life, and was bitterly 
mortified when in 1868 he was unseated for alleged 
bribery on the part of his agents. He was never 
married ; having observed, he used to say, that 
wives always prefer other men to their own husbands ; 
but he was blandly alive to female charms : the 
pictures in "Eothen "of the romping Bethlehem girls, 
of the roguish Ottoman lady in Constantinople 
streets, of the majestic Smyrnians and bewitching 
Cypriots; his compassion for the ugly Bedouin 
women, and for the Dead Sea goatherd with his 
plain -faced wife; are pleasantly and healthily 
" amorous, not villainous," as Iachimo distinguished 
the innocent freedom of poor Imogen ; his gallant 
confidences, ever playful and unsuggestive, bespeak 
not the tainted libertine, but the susceptible, soft- 
hearted, wholesome-minded bachelor. He used to 
wish that the Church had Priestesses as well as 
Priests, the former to be the Egerias of men as the 
latter are the shepherds of women. In general 



xiv 



INTRODUCTION 



society he was easily checked and most easily bored ; 
I remember how once at a well-selected dinner party, 
where Dr. Temple and Dean Lake were present, 
and where he came inclined to talk his best, a 
second-hand criticism on his " Crimea " by a foolish 
parson, the official and incongruous element in the 
group, stiffened him into persistent silence. A lady 
used to say that his pulse ought to be felt always 
after the first course, and that if it showed languor 
he should be moved to the side of some other 
partner. Mrs. Andrew Crosse, who if not the rose 
was very near the rose, and came in contact vicari- 
ously with Kinglake among other notables, relates 
that during his fatal illness the Duke of Bedford 
regaled his dying friend by enlarging on the advant- 
ages of cremation. "The Duke offers you crema- 
tion," said he, "as the Duchess would offer you a 
box at the opera." Cremated he was at Woking in 
1 89 1, and the Duke was there to see. 

" Eothen " has long since soared into a classic : 
eclipsed for a time by the contemporary interest 
attaching to "The Invasion of the Crimea," it 
holds again the estimation which it secured at first, 
as the book by which his name in English litera- 
ture will permanently survive. Narratives of cam- 
paigns and wars abound : read eagerly at the time, 
they pass to our upper shelves as the operations 
which they commemorate are forgotten, emerging 
only as text-books for professional students. This 
fate would seem already to have overtaken "The 
Invasion of the Crimea"; in the very qualities 
which made it successful at the time, the glitter, 
rapidity, point, effectiveness, as of the newspaper 
correspondent or editorial, it missed the measured j 



INTRODUCTION 



XV 



grace essential to the highest art ; its style declined, 
to quote the imagery of Matthew Arnold, from 
the Attic to the Corinthian. He lavished on it 
far more pains than on "Eothen"; passage after 
passage was again and again re-written, a calligraphic 
Taunton bookseller being employed to disentangle 
for the printers the chaotic manuscript of a hand 
not too legible at its best. But though the style was 
incomparable for its immediate purpose of vindi- 
cating, damaging, triumphing ; though the Battle of 
the Alma must ever probably take rank as the most 
graphic diorama in all military history, yet men 
were bored after a time by the Great Elchi \ the ag- 
gressive strictures and strategic criticisms were seen 
to be biassed by affection for Lord Raglan ■ while 
the mercilessly vindictive portraiture of the Second 
Empire was notoriously prompted by personal ran- 
cour : "C'est un livre ignoble" said Louis Napoleon 
when he read the book. And so, as a Work of Art, 
" Eothen " recovered its pre-eminence, unrivalled 
and unique among English books of travel, both as 
regards style and treatment. The keynote of the 
treatment is its egotism ; it is, or it professes to be, 
written to an intimate acquaintance, who will care 
less for the towns and countries, scenes and char- 
acters, Jews, Turks, and Infidels, amongst whom or 
which his friend the writer moved, than for his own 
I impression of these things, for the realities of Eastern 
travel as they affected his feelings and sensations. 
It was a venturesome assumption that talk so purely 
personal could succeed in interesting that wider 
public to whom the narrative must be everything 
and the narrator nothing : perhaps not one man in 
a hundred could have achieved it without becoming, 

b 



xvi 



INTRODUCTION 



sometimes at least, intrusive and ridiculous. But 
Kinglake was that one: under the spell of his reliant 
individuality we are flattered, not affronted, by the 
confidence of the proud, shy, eloquent man; we 
prefer the experiential diary, such as no one else could 
give, to the mere scenic descriptions which form the 
staple of an ordinary traveller. When he ceases to 
be personal the spell is broken ; the tales of Mariam 
and Damoor, in which he takes no part, form the least 
attractive chapters in the book. Again, the writing 
wooes us by its strong persuasive truthfulness. Dr. 
Johnson at Iona, Charles Dickens at Niagara, say 
the correct thing ; put into epigram or rhapsody the 
sentiments proper to the place ; we feel, like the 
Northern Farmer, that they have said what they 
ought to say, and — we come away. Kinglake is too 
well-bred for gush, too idiocratic for conventional- 
ism : that he can feel the genius of an old poetic 
spot he lets us know from time to time, as in his 
peep at the Mysian Olympus, his apostrophe to the 
gardens of Damascus, his brief moralizing on the 
Sphynx, his meditations before the coast-line of the 
Troad, that fixed horizon, unchanged in rock and 
sand, on which for nine years the eyes of the Grecian 
warriors were daily and resentfully fixed ; and we 
are told that in speaking of his travels he would 
vividly recall his emotion in Jerusalem and Galilee : 
but he will not court the sensibility which does not 
naturally spring; tells us that in Tibeiias the fleas 
forbade sentiment, that the Pyramids plagued him 
with a De Quincey-like reminiscence of infantine 
dreams, that at Gennesareth thoughts of Windermere 
expunged Gospel memories. He tries hard for Pagan 
fervour at Paphos, for Christian ecstasy beside the 



INTRODUCTION 



xvii 



Virgin's broken column at Nazareth ; gives us in 
each case a page of rodomontade — the only rodo- 
montade in the book — then breaks off with a saucy 
laugh, as if to say : " See what I might have made 
you suffer !" Except in these two cynical experiments 
the relation is absolutely unforced; there are no 
purple patches visibly sewn on as in Macaulay ; 
none of the limce labor, the poetic pains, which the 
practised critic discerns in Ruskin's miracles of 
description through the matchless polish overlying 
them ; easy, luxuriant, undulating, the facile strain 
flows on, sown thick as was his happier talk with 
negligent epigrams and picked inevitable phrases, 
rising now and then, as in the dismal vision of the 
Dead Sea, into eloquence naturally evolved, not 
mechanically constructed, the momentary inspiration 
overpowering the habitual self-restraint. 

I am old enough to recall the welcome which the 
book received upon its first appearance. It arrested 
old and young, men of the club and library, under- 
graduates, schoolboys, even domestic servants : the 
messenger at New College, an eccentric college scout 
— old Wykehamists will remember Richard Swallow 
— knew the book by heart, and used to linger talking 
of it in our rooms. And its spell is unbroken to-day; 
alone of contemporary books of Oriental travel — 
Lord Carlisle's, Lord Lindsey's, Lord Nugent's, 
Curzon's, even Eliot Warburton's — it is again and 
again reproduced with bibliopolist certainty of an au- 
dience, is devoured senibus puerisque with unflagging 
freshness of enjoyment. If Macaulay 's dictum be 
a sound one, that the books you read most joyously 
are the books you know by heart, that condition of 
appetite is ours. The inimitable conference with 



xviii INTRODUCTION 

the Pasha, the glorification of Pope's Homer, the 
comparison between childish and schoolboy pupil- 
age, the Dead Sea bivouac, the obituary of the 
stricken Levantine, the invocation of Keate from 
the Shades, the tearful agony of the camels, con- 
strained to pass from their desert home within the 
hated city walls, the splendid analysis of the Desert 
ride and halt, affect us with the two-fold magic 
of present judgment satisfied and boyish delight 
revived. To gladden equally with the self-same 
words the reluctant inexperience of childhood and 
the acquired insight of maturity is a note of genius 
as transcendent as it is rare ; it sparkles dominant, 
continuous, enthralling, in every page and paragraph 
of " Eothen." 

W. T. 



[Title of the First Edition] 

EOTHEN 

OR 

TRACES OF TRAVEL 

BROUGHT HOME 

FROM THE EAST 



ITpo? hi ts not nkiov avctroXa? Itto'.Uto tt)v obov. 

HEROD. VII. 58. 



LONDON 
JOHN OLLIVIER, 59, PALL MALL 
1844 



I 



PREFACE 



ADDRESSED BY 

THE AUTHOR TO ONE OF HIS FRIENDS 

WHEN you first entertained the idea of travelling 
in the East, you asked me to send you an out- 
line of the tour which I had made, in order that you 
might the better be able to choose a route for yourself. 
In answer to this request, I gave you a large French 
map, on which the course of my journeys had been 
carefully marked; but I did not conceal from myself, that 
this was rather a dry mode for a man to adopt, when 
he wished to impart the results of his experience to a 
dear, and intimate friend. Now, long before the period 
of your planning an Oriental tour, I had intended to 
write some account of my Eastern Travels. I had 
indeed begun the task, and had failed ; I had begun it 
a second time, and failing again, had abandoned my 
attempt with a sensation of utter distaste. I was un- 
able to speak out, and chiefly, I think, for this reason 
— that I knew not to whom I was speaking. It might 
be you, or, perhaps, our Lady of Bitterness, who would 
read my story ; or it might be some member of the 
Royal Statistical Society, and how on earth was I to 
write in a way that would do for all three? 

Well — your request for a sketch of my tour suggested 
to me the idea of complying with your wish by a revival 
of my twice-abandoned attempt. I tried, and the 
pleasure, and confidence which I felt in speaking to 
you, soon made my task so easy, and even amusing, 



xxii 



PREFACE 



that after a while, (though not in time for your tour,) I 
completed the scrawl from which this book was origin- 
ally printed. 

The very feeling, however, which enabled me to 
write thus freely, prevented me from robing my 
thoughts in that grave and decorous style which I 
should have maintained if I had professed to lecture 
the public. Whilst I feigned to myself that you, and 
you only, were listening, I could not by possibility 
speak very solemnly. Heaven forbid that I should 
talk to my own genial friend, as though he were a great 
and enlightened Community, or any other respectable 
Aggregate ! 

Yet I well understood that the mere fact of my pro- 
fessing to speak to you rather than to the public 
generally, could not perfectly excuse me for printing 
a narrative too roughly worded, and accordingly, in 
revising the proof sheets, I have struck out those 
phrases which seemed to be less fit for a published 
volume than for intimate conversation. It is hardly 
to be expected, however, that correction of this kind 
should be perfectly complete, or that the almost boister- 
ous tone in which many parts of the book were originally 
written should be thoroughly subdued. I venture, 
therefore, to ask, that the familiarity of language still 
possibly apparent in the work, may be laid to the 
account of our delightful intimacy, rather than to any 
presumptuous motive ; I feel, as you know, much too 
timidly — too distantly, and too respectfully towards the 
Public, to be capable of seeking to put myself on 
terms of easy fellowship with strange and casual 
readers. 

It is right to forewarn people (and I have tried to do 
this as well as I can, by my studiously unpromising 
title-page *) that the book is quite superficial in its 

1 Eothen " is, I hope, almost the only hard word to be found 
in the book; it is written in Greek hSiQsv, — (Attice, with an 
aspirated e instead of the «,) — and signifies, "from the early 
dawn," — " from the East." — Bonn. Lex. 4th edition. 



PREFACE 



xxiii 



character. I have endeavoured to discard from it all 
valuable matter derived from the works of others, and 
it appears to me that my efforts in this direction have 
been attended with great success ; I believe I may 
truly acknowledge, that from all details of geographical 
discovery, or antiquarian research — from all display of 
" sound learning, and religious knowledge M — from all 
historical and scientific illustrations — from all useful 
statistics — from all political disquisitions — and from 
all good moral reflections, the volume is thoroughly 
free. 

My excuse for the book is its truth : you and I know 
a man fond of hazarding elaborate jokes, who, whenever 
a story of his happens not to go down as wit, will evade 
the awkwardness of the failure, by bravely maintaining 
that all he has said is pure fact. I can honestly take 
this decent, though humble mode of escape. My 
narrative is not merely righteously exact in matters of 
fact (where fact is in question), but it is true in this 
larger sense — it conveys — not those impressions which 
ought to have been produced upon any " well constituted 
mind," but those which were really, and truly received 
at the time of his rambles, by a headstrong, and not 
very amiable traveller, whose prejudices in favour of 
other people's notions were then exceedingly slight. 
As I have felt, so I have written ; and the result is, 
that there will often be found in my narrative a jarring- 
discord between the associations properly belonging to 
interesting sites, and the tone in which I speak of them. 
This seemingly perverse mode of treating the subject 
is forced upon me by my plan of adhering to senti- 
mental truth, and really does not result from any 
impertinent wish to teaze or trifle with readers. 1 
ought, for instance, to have felt as strongly in Judaea, 
as in Galilee, but it was not so in fact ; the religious 
sentiment (born in solitude) which had heated my 
brain in the Sanctuary of Nazareth was rudely chilled 
at the foot of Zion, by disenchanting scenes, and this 
change is accordingly disclosed by the perfectly 



xxiv 



PREFACE 



worldly tone in which I speak of Jerusalem and 
Bethlehem. 

My notion of dwelling precisely upon those matters 
which happened to interest me, and upon none other, 
would of course be intolerable in a regular book of 
travels. If I had been passing through countries not 
previously explored, it would have been sadly perverse 
to withhold careful descriptions of admirable objects, 
merely because my own feelings of interest in them 
may have happened to flag ; but where the countries 
which one visits have been thoroughly, and ably de- 
scribed, and even artistically illustrated by others, one 
is fully at liberty to say as little (though not quite so 
much) as one chooses. Now a traveller is a creature 
not always looking at sights — he remembers (how 
often I) the happy land of his birth — he has, too, his 
moments of humble enthusiasm about fire, and food — 
about shade, and drink ; and if he gives to these feel- 
ings anything like the prominence which really be- 
longed to them at the time of his travelling, he will not 
seem a very good teacher ; once having determined to 
write the sheer truth concerning the things which 
chiefly have interested him, he must, and he will, sing 
a sadly long strain about Self ; he will talk for whole 
pages together about his bivouac fire, and ruin the 
Ruins of Baalbec with eight or ten cold lines. 

But it seems to me that the egotism of a traveller, 
however incessant — however shameless and obtrusive, 
must still convey some true ideas of the country 
through which he has passed. His very selfishness — 
his habit of referring the whole external world to his 
own sensations, compels him, as it were, in his writings, 
to observe the laws of perspective ; — he tells you of 
objects, not as he knows them to be, but as they 
seemed to him. The people, and the things that most 
concern him personally, however mean and insignific- 
ant, take large proportions in his picture, because they 
stand so near to him. He shows you his Dragoman, 
and the gaunt features of his Arabs — his tent — his 



PREFACE 



XXV 



kneeling camels — his baggage strewed upon the sand ; 
— but the proper wonders of the land — the cities — the 
mighty ruins, and monuments of bygone ages he throws 
back faintly in the distance. It is thus that he felt, and 
thus, he strives to repeat the scenes of the Elder 
World. You may listen to him for ever without learn- 
ing much in the way of Statistics ; but, perhaps, if you 
bear with him long enough, you may find yourself 
slowly and slightly impressed with the realities of 
Eastern Travel. 

My scheme of refusing to dwell upon matters which 
failed to interest my own feelings, has been departed 
from in one instance — namely, in my detail of the late 
Lady Hester Stanhope's conversation on supernatural 
topics ; the truth is, that I have been much questioned 
on this subject, and I thought that my best plan would 
be to write down at once all that I could ever have to 
say concerning the personage whose career has excited 
so much curiosity amongst Englishwomen. The result 
is, that my account of the lady goes to a length which 
is not justified either by the importance of the subject, 
or by the extent to which it interested the narrator. 

You will see that I constantly speak of " my People, 55 
" my Party, 55 " my Arabs, 55 and so on, using terms 
which might possibly seem to imply that I moved 
about with a pompous retinue. This of course was not 
the case. I travelled with the simplicity proper to my 
station, as one of the industrious class, who was not 
flying from his country because of ennui, but was 
strengthening his will, and tempering the metal of his 
nature for that life of toil and conflict in which he 
is now engaged. But an Englishman journeying in 
the East, must necessarily have with him Dragomen 
capable of interpreting the Oriental languages ; the 
absence of wheeled-carriages obliges him to use several 
beasts of burthen for his baggage, as well as for him- 
self, and his attendants ; the owners of the horses, or 
camels, with their slaves or servants fall in as part of 
his train, and altogether the cavalcade becomes rather 



xxyi 



PREFACE 



numerous, without, however, occasioning any propor- 
tionate increase of expense. When a traveller speaks 
of all these followers in mass, he calls them his 
" people," or his " troop," or his " party, 5 ' without in- 
tending to make you believe that he is therefore a 
Sovereign Prince. 

You will see that I sometimes follow the custom of 
the Scots in f describing my fellow-countrymen by the 
names of their paternal homes. 

Of course all these explanations are meant for casual 
readers. To you, without one syllable of excuse, or 
deprecation, and in all the confidence of a friendship 
that never yet was clouded, I give this long-promised 
volume, and add but one sudden " Good-bye ! M for I 
dare not stand greeting you here. 



EOTHEN 



CHAPTER I 

OVER THE BORDER 

AT Semlin I still was encompassed by the scenes, 
and the sounds of familiar life ; the din of a busy 
world still vexed and cheered me ; the unveiled faces 
of women still shone in the light of day. Yet, when- 
ever I chose to look southward, I saw the Ottoman's 
fortress — austere, and darkly impending high over the 
vale of the Danube — historic Belgrade. I had come, 
as it were, to the end of this wheel-going Europe, and 
now my eyes would see the Splendour and Havoc of 
The East. 

The two frontier towns are less than a cannon-shot 
distant, and yet their people hold no communion. The 
Hungarian on the North, and the Turk and Servian on 
the southern side of the Save are as much asunder as 
though there were fifty broad provinces that lay in the 
path between them. Of the men that bustled around 
me in the streets of Semlin, there was not, perhaps, one 
who had ever gone down to look upon the stranger 
race which dwells under the walls of that opposite 
castle. It is the Plague, and the dread of the Plague, 
which divide the one people from the other. All 
coming and going stands forbidden by the terrors of 
the yellow flag. If you dare to break the laws of the 
quarantine, you will be tried with military haste ; the 
court will scream out your sentence to you from a tri- 

B 



2 



EOTHEN 



bunal some fifty yards off ; the priest, instead of gently 
whispering to you the sweet hopes of religion, will 
console you at duelling distance, and after that you 
will find yourself carefully shot, and carelessly buried 
in the ground of the Lazaretto. 

When all was in order for our departure, we walked 
down to the precincts of the Quarantine Establishment, 
and here awaited us a "compromised" 1 officer of the 
Austrian Government, who lives in a state of perpetual 
excommunication. The boats, with their " compro- 
mised " rowers, were also in readiness. 

After coming in contact with any creature or thing 
belonging to the Ottoman Empire, it would be im- 
possible for us to return to the Austrian territory with- 
out undergoing an imprisonment of fourteen days in 
the odious Lazaretto ; we felt, therefore, that before we 
committed ourselves, it was highly important to take 
care that none of the arrangements necessary for the 
journey had been forgotten, and in our anxiety to avoid 
such a misfortune, we managed the work of departure 
from Semlin with nearly as much solemnity as if we 
had been departing this life. Some obliging persons 
from whom we had received civilities during our short 
stay in the place, came down to say their farewell at 
the river's side ; and now, as we stood with them at 
the distance of three or four yards from the " compro- 
mised " officer, they asked if we were perfectly certain 
that we had wound up all our affairs in Christendom, 
and whether we had no parting requests to make. 
We repeated the caution to our servants, and took 
anxious thought lest by any possibility we might be cut 
off from some cherished object of affection : — were 
they quite sure that there was no faithful portmanteau 
— no patient and longsuffering carpet-bag — no fragrant 

1 A " compromised" person is one who has been in contact 
with people or things supposed to be capable of conveying infec- 
tion. As a general rule the whole Ottoman empire lies con- 
stantly under this terrible ban. The 1 ' yellow flag " is the ensign 
of the Quarantine establishment. 



OVER- THE BORDER 



3 



dressing-case with its gold-compelling letters of credit 
from which we might be parting for ever? — No — all 
these our loved ones lay safely stowed in the boat, and 
we were ready to follow them to the ends of the earth. 
Now, therefore, we shook hands with our Semlin friends, 
who immediately retreated for three or four paces, so 
as to leave us in the centre of a space between them 
and the " compromised" officer ; the latter then advanced, 
and asking once more if we had done with the civilized 
world, held forth his hand — I met it with mine, and 
there was an end to Christendom for many a day to 
come. 

We soon neared the southern bank of the river, but 
no sounds came down from the blank walls above, and 
there was no living thing that we could yet see, except 
one great hovering bird of the vulture race, flying low, 
and intent, and wheeling round and round over the 
Pest-accused city. 

But presently there issued from the postern, a group 
of human beings, — beings with immortal souls, and 
possibly some reasoning faculties, but to me the grand 
point was this, that they had real, substantia], and in- 
controvertible turbans ; they made for the point towards 
which we were steering, and when at last, I sprang 
upon the shore, I heard, and saw myself now first sur- 
rounded by men of Asiatic race ; I have since ridden 
through the land of the Osmanlees, from the Servian 
Border to the Golden Horn, — from the gulph of Satalieh 
to the tomb of Achilles ; but never have I seen such 
ultra-Turkish looking fellows as those who received me 
on the banks of the Save ; they were men in the hum- 
blest order of life, having come to meet our boat in the 
hope of earning something by carrying our luggage up 
to the city, but poor though they were, it was plain 
that they were Turks of the proud old school, and had 
not yet forgotten the fierce, careless bearing of the once 
victorious Ottomans. 

Though the province of Servia generally, has obtained 
a kind of independence, yet Belgrade, as being a place 



4 



EOTHEN 



of strength on the frontier, is still garrisoned by Turkish 
troops, under the command of a Pasha. Whether the 
fellows who now surrounded us were soldiers, or peace- 
ful inhabitants, I did not understand ; they wore the 
old Turkish costume ; vests and jackets of many and 
brilliant colours, divided from the loose petticoat- 
trowsers by masses of shawl, which were folded in 
heavy volumes around their waists so as to give the 
meagre wearers something of the dignity of true cor- 
pulence. The shawl enclosed a whole bundle of 
weapons ; no man bore less than one brace of im- 
mensely long pistols, and a yataghan (or cutlass), with 
a dagger or two, of various shapes and sizes ; most of 
these arms were inlaid with silver, and highly burnished, 
so that they contrasted shiningly with the decayed 
grandeur of the garments to which they were attached ; 
(this carefulness of his arms is a point of honour with 
the Osmanlee, who never allows his bright yataghan 
to suffer from his own adversity) ; then the long droop- 
ing mustachios, and the ample folds of the once white 
turbans, that lowered over the piercing eyes, and the 
haggard features of the men, gave them an air of gloomy 
pride, and that appearance of trying to be disdainful 
under difficulties, which I have since seen so often in 
those of the Ottoman people who live, and remember 
old times ; they seemed as if they were thinking that 
they would have been more usefully, more honourably, 
and more piously employed in cutting our throats, than 
in carrying our portmanteaus. The faithful Steel 
(Methley's Yorkshire servant), stood aghast for a 
moment, at the sight of his master's luggage upon the 
shoulders of these warlike porters, and when at last we 
began to move up, he could scarcely avoid turning 
round to cast one affectionate look towards Christen- 
dom, but quickly again he marched on with the steps 
of a man, not frightened exactly, but sternly prepared 
for death, or the Koran, or even for plural wives. 

The Moslem quarter of a city is lonely and desolate; 
you go up and down, and on over shelving and hillocky 



OVER THE BORDER 



5 



paths through the narrow lanes walled in by blank, 
windowless dwellings ; you come out upon an open 
space strewed with the black ruins that some late fire 
has left ; you pass by a mountain of cast-away things, 
the rubbish of centuries, and on it you see numbers of 
big, wolf-like dogs lying torpid under the sun, with 
limbs outstretched to the full, as if they were dead ; 
storks, or cranes, sitting fearless upon the low roofs, 
look gravely down upon you ; the still air that you 
breathe is loaded with the scent of citron, and pome- 
granate rinds scorched by the sun, or (as you approach 
the Bazaar) with the dry, dead perfume of strange 
spices. You long for some signs of life, and tread the 
ground more heavily, as though you would wake the 
sleepers with the heel of your boot ; but the foot falls 
noiseless upon the crumbling soil of an eastern city, 
and Silence follows you still. Again and again you 
meet turbans, and faces of men, but they have nothing 
for you — no welcome — no wonder — no wrath — no scorn 
— they look upon you as we do upon a December's fall 
of snow — as a "seasonable," unaccountable, uncom- 
fortable work of God, that may have been sent for some 
good purpose, to be revealed hereafter. 

Some people had come down to meet us with an in- 
vitation from the Pasha, and we wound our way up to 
the castle. At the gates there were groups of soldiers, 
some smoking, and some lying flat like corpses upon 
the cool stones ; we went through courts, ascended 
steps, passed along a corridor, and walked into an airy, 
white-washed room, with an European clock at one end 
of it, and Moostapha Pasha at the other ; the fine, old, 
bearded potentate looked very like Jove — like Jove, too, 
in the midst of his clouds, for the silvery fumes of the 
Narguile 1 hung lightly circling round him. 

The Pasha received us with the smooth, kind, gentle 

1 The Narguile is a water-pipe upon the plan of the Hookah, 
but more gracefully fashioned ; the smoke is drawn by a very 
long flexible tube that winds its snake -like way from the vase to 
the lips of the beatified smoker. 



6 



EOTHEN 



manner that belongs to well-bred Osmanlees ; then he 
lightly clapped his hands, and instantly the sound filled 
all the lower end of the room with slaves ; a syllable 
dropped from his lips which bowed all heads, and con- 
jured away the attendants like ghosts ; (their coming 
and their going was thus swift and quiet, because their 
feet were bare, and they passed through no door, but 
only by the yielding folds of a purder). Soon the 
coffee bearers appeared, every man carrying separately 
his tiny cup in a small metal stand, and presently to 
each of us there came a pipe-bearer, who first rested 
the bowl of the tchibouque^ at a measured distance on 
the floor, and then, on this axis, wheeled round the long 
cherry stick, and gracefully presented it on half-bended 
knee ; already the well-kindled fire was glowing secure 
in the bowl, and so, when I pressed the amber lip to 
mine, there was no coyness to conquer ; the willing 
fume came up, and answered my slightest sigh, and 
followed softly every breath inspired, till it touched me 
with some faint sense and understanding of Asiatic 
contentment. 1 

Asiatic contentment ! Yet scarcely, perhaps, one 
hour before, I had been wanting my bill, and ringing 
for waiters in a shrill and busy hotel. 

In the Ottoman dominions there is scarcely any 
hereditary influence except that which belongs to the 
family of the Sultan, and wealth, too, is a highly volatile 
blessing, not easily transmitted to the descendants of 
the owner. From these causes it results, that the 
people standing in the place of nobles and gentry, are 
official personages, and though many, (indeed the 
greater number), of these potentates are humbly born 
and bred, you will seldom, I think, find them wanting 
in that polished smoothness of manner, and those well 
undulating tones which belong to the best Osmanlees. 

1 Fine talking this, you will say, for one who can't smoke a 
cigar ; but ask any Eastern traveller if it is not quite possible to 
love the tchibouque, and the narguile, without being able to 
endure the European contrivances for smoking. 



OVER THE BORDER 



7 



The truth is, that most of the men in authority have 
risen from their humble station by the arts of the 
courtier, and they preserve in their high estate, those 
gentle powers of fascination to which they owe their 
success. Yet unless you can contrive to learn a little 
of the language, you will be rather bored by your visits 
of ceremony ; the intervention of the interpreter, or 
Dragoman as he is called, is fatal to the spirit of 
conversation. I think I should mislead you if I were 
to attempt to give the substance of any particular 
conversation with Orientals. A traveller may write 
and say that, "the Pasha of So-and-Sowas particularly 
interested in the vast progress which has been made 
in the application of steam, and appeared to under- 
stand the structure of our machinery — that he remarked 
upon the gigantic results of our manufacturing industry 
— shewed that he possessed considerable knowledge of 
our Indian affairs, and of the constitution of the Com- 
pany, and expressed a lively admiration of the many 
sterling qualities for which the people of England are 
distinguished." But the heap of common-places thus 
quietly attributed to the Pasha, will have been founded 
perhaps on some such talking as this : — 

Pasha. — The Englishman is welcome ; most blessed 
among hours is this, the hour of his coming. 

Dragoman (to the Traveller). — The Pasha pays you 
his compliments. 

Traveller. — Give him my best compliments in return, 
and say Fm delighted to have the honour of seeing 
him. 

Dragoman (to the Pasha). — His Lordship, this 
Englishman, Lord of London, S corner of Ireland, 
Suppressor of France, has quitted his governments, 
and left his enemies to breathe for a moment, and has 
crossed the broad waters in strict disguise, with a 
small but eternally faithful retinue of followers, in 
order that he might look upon the bright countenance 
of the Pasha among Pashas — the Pasha of the ever- 
lasting Pashalik of Karagholookoldour. 



8 



EOTHEN 



Traveller (to his Dragoman). — What on earth have 
you been saying about London? The Pasha will be 
taking me for a mere cockney. Have not I told you 
always to say, that I am from a branch of the family 
of Mudcombe Park, and that I am to be a magistrate 
for the county of Bedfordshire, only I've not qualified, 
and that I should have been a Deputy-Lieutenant, 
if it had not been for the extraordinary conduct of 
Lord Mountpromise, and that I was a candidate for 
Goldborough at the last election, and that I should 
have won easy, if my committee had not been bought. 
I wish to heaven that if you do say anything about 
me, you'd tell the simple truth. 

Dragoman — [is silent]. 
^J^asha. — What says the friendly Lord of London? 
is there aught that I can grant him within the Pashalik 
of Karagholookoldour ? 

Dragoinan (growing sulky and literal). — This friendly 
Englishman — this branch of Mudcombe — this head- 
purveyor of Goldborough — this possible policeman of 
Bedfordshire is recounting his achievements, and the 
number of his titles. 

Pasha. — The end of his honours is more distant than 
the ends of the Earth, and the catalogue of his glorious 
deeds is brighter than the firmament of Heaven ! 

Dragoman (to the Traveller). — The Pasha congratu- 
lates your Excellency. 

Traveller. — About Goldborough ? The deuce he 
does ! — but I want to get at his views, in relation to 
the present state of the Ottoman Empire ; tell him 
the Houses of Parliament have met, and that there 
has been a Speech from the throne, pledging England 
to preserve the integrity of the Sultan's dominions. 

Dragoman (to the Pasha). — This branch of Mud- 
combe, this possible policeman of Bedfordshire, informs 
your Highness that in England the talking houses have 
met, and that the integrity of the Sultan's dominions has 
been assured for ever and ever, by a speech from the 
velvet chair. 



OVER THE BORDER 



9 



Pasha. — Wonderful chair ! Wonderful houses ! — 
whirr ! whirr ! all by wheels ! — whiz ! whiz ! all by 
steam ! — wonderful chair ! wonderful houses ! won- 
derful people ! — whirr ! whirr ! all by wheels ! — whiz ! 
whiz ! all by steam ! 

Traveller (to the Dragoman). — What does the Pasha 
mean by that whizzing ? he does not mean to say, does 
he, that our Government will ever abandon their pledges 
to the Sultan ? 

Dragoman. — No, your Excellency, but he says the 
English talk by wheels, and by steam. 

Traveller. — That 's an exaggeration ; but say that 
the English really have carried machinery to great 
perfection ; tell the Pasha (he'll be struck with that), 
that whenever we have any disturbances to put down, 
even at two or three hundred miles from London, we 
can send troops by the thousand, to the scene of action, 
g in a few hours. 

Dragoman (recovering his temper and freedom of 
speech). — His Excellency, this Lord of Mudcombe, 
observes to your Highness, that whenever the Irish, 
or the French, or the Indians rebel against the English, 
whole armies of soldiers, and brigades of artillery, are 
dropped into a mighty chasm called Euston Square, 
and in the biting of a cartridge they arise up again in 
Manchester, or Dublin, or Paris, or Delhi, and utterly 
exterminate the enemies of England from the face of 
the earth. 

Pasha. — I know it — I know all — the particulars have 
been faithfully related to me, and my mind comprehends 
locomotives. The armies of the English ride upon the 
vapours of boiling cauldrons, and their horses are 
flaming coals ! — whirr ! whirr ! all by wheels ! — whiz ! 
whiz ! all by steam ! 

Traveller (to his Dragoman). — I wish to have the 
opinion of an unprejudiced Ottoman gentleman, as to 
the prospects of our English commerce and manu- 
factures ; just ask the Pasha to give me his views on 
the subject. 



IO 



EOTHEN 



Pasha (after having received the communication of 
the Dragoman). — The ships of the English swarm like 
flies ; their printed calicoes cover the whole earth, 
and by the side of their swords the blades of Damas- 
cus are blades of grass. All India is but an item in 
the Ledger-books of the Merchants, whose lumber- 
rooms are filled with ancient thrones ! — whirr ! whirr ! 
all by wheels ! — whiz ! whiz ! all by steam ! 

Drago?nan. — The Pasha compliments the cutlery of 
England, and also the East India Company. 

Traveller. — The Pasha ? s right about the cutlery, (I 
tried my scimitar with the common officers' swords be- 
longing to our fellows at Malta, and they cut it like the 
leaf of a Novel). Well, (to the Dragoman), tell the 
Pasha I am exceedingly gratified to find that he enter- 
tains such a high opinion of our manufacturing energy, 
but I should like him to know, though, that we have 
got something in England besides that. These 
foreigners are always fancying that we have nothing 
but ships, and railways, and East India Companies ; 
do just tell the Pasha, that our rural districts deserve 
his attention, and that even within the last two hun- 
dred years there has been an evident improvement in 
the culture of the turnip, and if he does not take any 
interest about that, at all events, you can explain that 
we have our virtues in the country — that the British 
yeoman is still, thank God ! the British yeoman : — Oh ! 
and by the by, whilst you are about it, you may as well 
say that we are a truth-telling people, and, like the 
Osmanlees, are faithful in the performance of our 
promises. 

Pasha (after hearing the Dragoman). — It is true, it 
is true : — through all Feringhistan the English are fore- 
most, and best ; for the Russians are drilled swine, and 
the Germans are sleeping babes, and the Italians are 
the servants of Songs, and the French are the sons of 
Newspapers, and the Greeks they are weavers of lies, 
but the English, and the Osmanlees are brothers to- 
gether in righteousness ; for the Osmanlees believe 



OVER THE BORDER 



ii 



in one only God, and cleave to the Koran, and destroy 
idols, so do the English worship one God, and abomin- 
ate graven images, and tell the truth, and believe in 
a book, and though they drink the juice of the grape, 
yet to say that they worship their prophet as God, or 
to say that they are eaters of pork, these are lies, — 
lies born of Greeks, and nursed by Jews ! 

Dragoman. — The Pasha compliments the English. 

Traveller (rising). — Well, Pve had enough of this. 
Tell the Pasha, I am greatly obliged to him for his 
hospitality, and still more for his kindness in furnish- 
ing me with horses, and say that now I must be off. 

Pasha (after hearing the Dragoman, and standing 
up on his Divan). 1 — Proud are the sires, and blessed 
are the dams of the horses that shall carry his Excel- 
lency to the end of his prosperous journey. — May the 
saddle beneath him glide down to the gates of the 
happy city, like a boat swimming on the third river of 
Paradise. — May he sleep the sleep of a child, when 
his friends are around him, and the while that his 
enemies are abroad, may his eyes flame red through 
the darkness — more red than the eyes of ten tigers ! — 
farewell ! 

Dragoman. — The Pasha wishes your Excellency a 
pleasant journey. 
So ends the visit. 

1 [That is, if he stands up at all : Oriental etiquette would not 
warrant his rising, unless his visitor were supposed to be at least 
his equal in point of rank and station. — Note in Third Edition.'] 



CHAPTER II 



JOURNEY FROM BELGRADE TO CONSTANTINOPLE 

IN two or three hours our party was ready ; the 
servants, the Tatars, the mounted Suridgees, and 
the baggage-horses altogether made up a strong caval- 
cade. The accomplished Mysseri, of whom you have 
heard me speak so often, and who served me so faith- 
fully throughout my oriental journeys, acted as our 
interpreter, and was, in fact, the brain of our corps. 
The Tatar, you know, is a government courier pro- 
perly employed in carrying despatches, but also sent 
with travellers to speed them on their way, and answer 
with his head for their safety. The man whose head 
was thus pledged for our precious lives was a glorious 
looking fellow, with the regular, and handsome cast of 
countenance, which is now characteristic of the Otto- 
man race. 1 His features displayed a good deal of 
serene pride, self-respect, fortitude, a kind of ingenuous 
sensuality, and something of instinctive wisdom, with- 
out any sharpness of intellect. He had been a Janis- 
sary, (as I afterwards found) and kept up the odd strut 
of his old corps, which used to affright the Christians 
in former times ; — that rolling gait is so comically 
pompous, that a close imitation of it, even in the 
broadest farce, would be looked upon as a very rough 
over-acting of the character. It is occasioned in part 
by the dress, and accoutrements. The heavy bundle 

1 The continual marriages of these people, with the chosen 
beauties of Georgia and Circassia, have overpowered the original 
ugliness of their Tatar ancestors. 



BELGRADE TO CONSTANTINOPLE 13 



of weapons carried upon the chest throws back the 
body so as to give it a wonderful portliness, whilst the 
immense masses of clothes that swathe bis limbs, force 
the wearer in walking, to swing himself heavily round 
from left to right, and from right to left — in truth, this 
great edifice of woollen, and cotton, and silk, and 
silver, and brass, and steel, is not at all fitted for 
moving on foot ; it cannot even walk without ludi- 
crously deranging its architectural proportions, and as 
to running, I once saw our Tatar make an attempt 
at that laborious exercise, in order to pick up a 
partridge which Methley had winged with a pistol- 
shot, and really the attempt was one of the funniest 
misdirections of human energy that I ever beheld. It 
used to be said, that a good man, struggling with 
adversity, was a spectacle worthy of the gods : — a 
Tatar attempting to run would have been a sight 
worthy of you. But put him in his stirrups, and then 
is the Tatar himself again : there you see him at his 
ease, reposing in the tranquillity of that true home, 
(the home of his ancestors,) which the saddle seems 
to afford him, and drawing from his pipe the calm 
pleasures of his " own fireside," or else dashing sudden 
over the earth, as though for a moment he were borne 
by the steed of a Turkman chief, with the plains of 
central Asia before him. It was not till his sub- 
ordinates had nearly completed their preparations for 
their march that our Tatar, u commanding the forces," 
arrived ; he came sleek, and fresh from the bath, (for 
so is the custom of the Ottomans when they start upon 
a journey), and was carefully accoutred at every 
point. From his thigh to his throat he was loaded 
with arms and other implements of a campaigning life. 
There is no scarcity of water along the whole road, 
from Belgrade to Stamboul, but the habits of our 
Tatar were formed by his ancestors, and not by him- 
self, so he took good care to see that his leather water- 
flask was amply charged and properly strapped to the 
saddle, along with his blessed tchibouque. And now 



14 



EOTHEN 



at last, he has cursed the Suridgees, in all proper 
figures of speech, and is ready for a ride of a thousand 
miles, but before he comforts his soul in the marble 
baths of Stamboul, he will be another and a smaller 
man — his sense of responsibility, his too strict abste- 
miousness, and his restless energy, disdainful of sleep, 
will have worn him down to a fraction of the sleek 
Moostapha, that now leads out our party from the 
gates of Belgrade. 

The Suridgees are the fellows employed to lead the 
baggage horses. They are most of them Gipsies. 
Poor devils ! their lot is an unhappy one — they are the 
last of the human race, and all the sins of their 
superiors (including the horses) can safely be visited 
on them. But the wretched look often more pictur- 
esque than their betters, and though all the world 
look down upon these poor Suridgees, their tawny 
skins, and their grisly beards, will gain them honour- 
able standing in the foreground of a landscape. We 
had a couple of these fellows with us, each leading a 
baggage horse, to the tail of which last, another 
baggage horse was attached. There was a world of 
trouble in persuading the stiff angular portmanteaus 
of Europe to adapt themselves to their new condition, 
and sit quietly on pack-saddles, but all was right at 
last, and it gladdened my eyes to see our little troop 
file off through the winding lanes of the city, and shew 
down brightly in the plain beneath; the one of our 
party that seemed to be most out of keeping with the 
rest of the scene, was Methley's Yorkshire servant, 
who rode doggedly on in his pantry jacket, looking 
out for " gentlemen's seats." 

Methley and I had English saddles, but I think we 
should have done just as well, (I should certainly have 
seen more of the country) if we had adopted saddles 
like that of our Tatar, who towered so loftily over the 
scraggy little beast that carried him. In taking thought 
for the East, whilst in England, I had made one capital 
hit which you must not forget — I had brought with me 



BELGRADE TO CONSTANTINOPLE 15 



a pair of common spurs, which were a great comfort to 
me throughout my travels by keeping up the cheerful- 
ness of the many unhappy nags which I had to bestride ; 
the angle of the oriental stirrup is a very poor substi- 
tute for spurs. 

The Ottoman horseman, raised by his saddle to a 
great height above the humble level of the back which 
he bestrides, and using an awfully sharp bit, is able to 
lift the crest of his nag, and force him into a strangely 
fast amble, which is the orthodox pace for the journey; 
my comrade and I thought it a bore to be followed by 
our attendants for a thousand miles, and we generally, 
therefore, did duty as the rear-guard of our " grand 
army ; " we used to walk our horses till the party in 
front had got into the distance, and then retrieve the 
lost ground by a gallop. 

We had ridden on for some two or three hours — the 
stir, and bustle of our commencing journey had ceased 
— the liveliness of our little troop had worn off with the 
declining day, and the night closed in as we entered 
the great Servian forest, through which our road was 
to last for more than a hundred miles. Endless, and 
endless now on either side, the tall oaks closed in their 
ranks, and stood gloomily lowering over us, as grim 
as an army of giants with a thousand years' pay in 
arrear. One strived with listening ear, to catch some 
tidings of that Forest World within— some stirring of 
beasts, some night bird's scream, but all was quite 
hushed, except the voice of the cicalas that peopled 
every bough, and filled the depths of the forest through, 
and through, with one same hum everlasting — more 
stilling than very silence. 

At first our way was in darkness, but after a while 
the moon got up, and touched the glittering arms, and 
tawny faces of our men with light so pale, and mystic, 
that the watchful Tatar felt bound to look out for 
Demons, and take proper means for keeping them off; 
he immediately determined that the duty of frightening 
away our ghostly enemies, (like every other trouble- 



16 EOTHEN 

some work,) should fall upon the poor Suridgees, who 
accordingly lifted up their voices, and burst upon the 
dreaded stillness of the forest with shrieks, and dismal 
howls. These precautions were kept up incessantly, 
and were followed by the most complete success, for 
not one demon came near us. 

Long before midnight, we reached the hamlet in 
which we were to rest for the night ; it was made up 
of about a dozen clay huts, standing upon a small tract 
of ground which had been conquered from the forest. 
The peasants that lived there spoke a Slavonic dialect, 
and Mysseri's knowledge of the Russian tongue, enabled 
him to talk with them freely. We soon took up our 
quarters in a square room, with white walls, and an 
earthen floor, quite bare of furniture and utterly void of 
women. They told us, however, that these Servian 
villagers were very well off, but that they were careful 
to conceal their wealth, as well as their wives. 

The burthens unstrapped from the packsaddles very 
quickly furnished our den ; a couple of quilts spread 
upon the floor, with a carpet bag at the head of each 
became capital sofas — portmanteaus, and hat boxes, 
and writing cases, and books, and maps, and gleaming 
arms, were soon strewed around us in pleasant confusion. 
Mysseri's canteen too, began to yield up its treasures, 
but we relied upon finding some provisions in the 
village. At first the natives declared that their hens 
were mere old maids, and all their cows unmarried, but 
our Tatar swore such a grand, sonorous oath, and 
fingered the hilt of his yataghan with such persuasive 
touch that the land soon flowed with milk, and moun- 
tains of eggs arose. 

And soon there was tea before us, with all its unspeak- 
able fragrance, and as we reclined on the floor, we found 
that a portmanteau was just the right height for a table ; 
the duty of candlesticks was ably performed by a 
couple of intelligent natives ; the rest of them stood by 
the open door-way at the lower end of the room, and 
watched our banqueting with deep, and serious attention. 



BELGRADE TO CONSTANTINOPLE 17 



The first night of your first campaign, (though you 
be but a mere peaceful campaigner), is a glorious time 
in your life. It is so sweet to find oneself free from the 
stale civilization of Europe ! Oh my dear ally ! when 
first you spread your carpet in the midst of these eastern 
scenes, do think for a moment of those your fellow 
creatures, that dwell in squares, and streets, and even 
(for such is the fate of many !) in actual country houses ; 
think of the people that are " presenting their compli- 
ments," and " requesting the honour," and " much re- 
gretting," — of those that are pinioned at dinner tables, 
or stuck up in ball-rooms, or cruelly planted in pews — 
ay, think of these, and so remembering how many poor 
devils are living in a state of utter respectability, you 
will glory the more in your own delightful escape. 

I am bound to confess, however, that with all its 
charms, a mud floor, (like a mercenary match) does 
certainly promote early rising. Long before daybreak 
we were up, and had breakfasted ; after this there was 
nearly a whole tedious hour to endure, whilst the horses 
were laden by torch-light ; but this had an end, and at 
last we went on once more. Cloaked, and sombre, at 
first we made our sullen way through the darkness, 
with scarcely one barter of words, but soon the genial 
morning burst over us, and stirred the blood so gladly 
through our veins, that the very Suridgees, with all their 
troubles, could now look up for an instant, and almost 
believe in the temporary goodness of God. 

The actual movement from one place to another, in 
Europeanized countries, is a process so temporary — it 
occupies, I mean, so small a proportion of the traveller's 
entire time, that his mind remains unsettled, so long 
as the wheels are going ; he is alive enough to the 
external objects of interest, which the route may afford, 
and to the crowding ideas which are often invited by 
the excitement of a changing scene, but he is still 
conscious of being in a provisional state, and his mind 
is constantly recurring to the expected end of his 
journey; his ordinary ways of thought have been inter- 

C 



i8 



EOTHEN 



rupted, and before any new mental habits can be 
formed he is quietly fixed in his hotel. It will be other- 
wise with you when you journey in the East. Day 
after day, perhaps week after week, and month after 
month, your foot is in the stirrup. To taste the cold 
breath of the earliest morn, and to lead, or follow your 
bright cavalcade till sunset through forests, and moun- 
tain passes, through valleys, and desolate plains, all 
this becomes your MODE OF LIFE, and you ride, eat, 
drink, and curse the mosquitoes, as systematically 
as your friends in England eat, drink, and sleep. If 
you are wise, you will not look upon the long period of 
time thus occupied by your journeys as the mere gulfs 
which divide you from the place to which you are 
going, but rather as most rare and beautiful portions of 
your life, from which may come temper, and strength. 
Once feel this, and you will soon grow happy, and 
contented in your saddle home. As for me and my 
comrade, in this part of our journey we often forgot 
Stamboul, forgot all the Ottoman Empire, and only 
remembered old times. We went back, loitering on 
the banks of Thames — not grim old Thames, of " after 
life " that washes the Parliament Houses, and drowns 
despairing girls, — but Thames the " old Eton fellow " 
that wrestled with us in our boyhood till he taught us 
to be stronger than he. We bullied Keate, and scoffed 
at Larrey Miller, and Okes ; we rode along loudly 
laughing, and talked to the grave Servian forest, as 
though it were the " Brocas clump." 

Our pace was commonly very slow, for the baggage- 
horses served us for a drag, and kept us to a rate of 
little more than five miles in the hour, but now and 
then, and chiefly at night, a spirit of movement would 
suddenly animate the whole party ; the baggage-horses 
would be teazed into a gallop, and when once this was 
done, there would be such a banging of portmanteaus, 
and such convulsions of carpet bags upon their panting 
sides, and the Suridgees would follow them up with 
such a hurricane of blows, and screams, and curses, 



BELGRADE TO CONSTANTINOPLE 19 



that stopping or relaxing was scarcely possible ; then 
the rest of us would put our horses into a gallop, and 
so all shouting cheerily, would hunt, and drive the 
sumpter beasts like a flock of goats, up hill, and down 
dale, right on to the end of their journey. 

The distances at which we got relays of horses varied 
greatly ; some were not more than fifteen or twenty 
miles, but twice, I think, we performed a whole day's 
journey of more than sixty miles with the same beasts. 

When, at last, we came out from the forest, our road 
lay through scenes like those of an English park. The 
green sward unfenced, and left to the free pasture of 
cattle, was dotted with groups of stately trees, and here 
and there darkened over with larger masses of wood, 
that seemed gathered together for bounding the do- 
main, and shutting out some infernal fellow-creature 
in the shape of a new-made squire : in one or two spots 
the hanging copses looked down upon a lawn below 
with such sheltering mien, that seeing the like in 
England, you would have been tempted almost to ask 
the name of the spendthrift, or the madman who had 
dared to pull down the old hall. 

There are few countries less infested by "lions" 
than the provinces in this part of your route ; you are 
not called upon " to drop a tear " over the tomb of 
" the once brilliant " any body, or to pay your " tribute 
of respect " to anything dead, or alive ; there are no 
Servian, or Bulgarian Litterateurs with whom it would 
be positively disgraceful not to form an acquaintance ; 
you have no staring, no praising to get through ; the 
only public building of any interest which lies on the 
road is of modern date, but is said to be a good 
specimen of oriental architecture ; it is of a pyramidical 
shape, and is made up of thirty thousand skulls which 
were contributed by the rebellious Servians in the early 
part (I believe) of this century ; I am not at all sure of 
my date, but I fancy it was in the year 1 806 that the 
first skull was laid. I am ashamed to say, that in 
the darkness of the early morning, we unknowingly 



20 



EOTHEN 



went by the neighbourhood of this triumph of art, and 
so basely got off from admiring " the simple grandeur 
of the architect's conception," and " the exquisite beauty 
of the fretwork." 

There being no "lions," we ought at least to have 
met with a few perils, but there were no women to 
attack our peace (they were all wrapt up, or locked in) 
and as for robbers, the only robbers we saw anything 
of had been long since dead, and gone ; the poor 
fellows had been impaled upon high poles, and so 
propped up by the transverse spokes beneath them, 
that their skeletons, clothed with some white, wax-like 
remains of flesh, still sat up lolling in the sunshine, 
and listlessly stared without eyes. 

One day it seemed to me that our path was a little 
more rugged, and less level than usual, and I found 
that I was deserving for myself the title of Sabalkansky, 
or " Transcender of the Balcan." The truth is, that, as 
a military barrier, the Balcan is a fabulous mountain ; 
such seems to be the view of Major Keppell, who looked 
on it towards the East with the eye of a soldier, and 
certainly in the Sophia pass, which I followed, there is 
no narrow defile, and no ascent sufficiently difficult to 
stop, or delay for long time, a train of siege artillery. 

Before we reached Adrianople, Methley had been 
seized with we knew not what ailment, and when we 
had taken up our quarters in the city, he was cast to 
the very earth by sickness. Adrianople enjoyed an 
English Consul, and I felt sure that, in Eastern phrase, 
his house would cease to be his house, and would 
become the house of my sick comrade ; I should have 
judged rightly under ordinary circumstances, but the 
levelling plague was abroad, and the dread of it had 
dominion over the consular mind. So now, (whether 
dying or not, one could hardly tell) upon a quilt stretched 
out along the floor, there lay the best hope of an ancient 
line, without the material aids to comfort of even the 
humblest sort, and (sad to say) without the consolation 
of a friend, or even a comrade worth having. I have a 



BELGRADE TO CONSTANTINOPLE 21 



notion that tenderness, and pity are affections occa- 
sioned in some measure by living within doors ; cer- 
tainly, at the time I speak of, the open air life which I 
had been leading, or the wayfaring hardships of the 
journey had so strangely blunted me, that I felt in- 
tolerant of illness, and looked down upon my com- 
panion as if the poor fellow in falling ill had betrayed 
a decided want of spirit ! I entertained, too, a most 
absurd idea — an idea that his illness was partly affected. 
You see that I have made a confession : this I hope — 
that I may always hereafter look charitably upon the 
hard, savage acts of peasants, and the cruelties of a 
" brutal " soldiery. God knows that I strived to melt 
myself into common charity, and to put on a gentleness 
which I could not feel, but this attempt did not cheat 
the keenness of the sufferer ; he could not have felt the 
less deserted, because that I was with him. 

We called to aid a solemn Armenian (I think he 
was) half soothsayer, half hakim, or doctor, who, all 
the while counting his beads, fixed his eyes steadily 
upon the patient, and then suddenly dealt him a 
violent blow on the chest. Methley bravely dissembled 
his pain, for he fancied that the blow was meant to try 
whether or not the plague were on him. 

Here was really a sad embarrassment — no bed — 
nothing to offer the invalid in the shape of food, save 
a piece of thin, tough, flexible, drab-coloured cloth, 
made of flour and mill-stones in equal proportions, 
and called by the name of " bread ; " .then the patient 
of course, had no "confidence in his medical man," 
and on the whole, the best chance of saving my com- 
rade seemed to be by taking him out of the reach of 
his doctor, and bearing him away to the neighbour- 
hood of some more genial consul. But how was this 
to be done ? Methley was much too ill to be kept in 
the saddle, and wheel-carriages as means of travelling, 
were unknown. There is, however, such a thing as an 
" Araba," a vehicle drawn by oxen, in which the wives 
of a rich man are sometimes dragged four or five miles 



22 



EQTHEN 



over the grass by way of recreation. The carriage is 
rudely framed, but you recognize in the simple grandeur 
of its design a likeness to things majestic ; in short, if 
your carpenter's son were to make a " Lord Mayor's 
coach 33 for little Amy, he would build a carriage very 
much in the style of a Turkish Araba. No one had 
ever heard of horses being used for drawing a carriage 
in this part of the world, but Necessity is the mother 
of Innovation as well as of Invention. I was fully 
justified, I think, in arguing that there were numerous 
instances of horses being used for that purpose in our 
own country — that the laws of nature are uniform in 
their operation over all the world, (except Ireland) — 
that that which was true in Piccadilly, must be true in 
Adrianople — that the matter could not fairly be treated 
as an ecclesiastical question, for that the circumstance 
of Methley's going on to Stamboul in an Araba drawn 
by horses, when calmly, and dispassionately con- 
sidered, would appear to be perfectly consistent with 
the maintenance of the Mahometan religion, as by 
law established. Thus poor, dear, patient Reason 
would have fought her slow battle against Asiatic 
prejudice, and I am convinced that she would have 
established the possibility, (and perhaps, even the 
propriety) of harnessing horses in a hundred and fifty 
years ; but in the meantime Mysseri, well seconded 
by our Tatar, put a very quick end to the controversy, 
by having the horses put to. 

It was a sore thing for me to see my poor comrade 
brought to this, for young though he was, he was a 
veteran in travel ; when scarcely yet of age, he had 
invaded India from the frontiers of Russia, and that 
so swiftly, that measuring by the time of his flight, the 
broad dominions of the King of Kings were shrivelled 
up to a Dukedom, and now poor fellow, he was to be 
poked up into an Araba, like a Georgian girl ! He 
suffered greatly, for there were no springs for the 
carriage, and no road for the wheels, and so the 
concern jolted on over the open country, with such 



BELGRADE TO CONSTANTINOPLE 23 



twists, and jerks, and jumps, as might almost dislocate 
the supple tongue of Satan. 

All day the patient kept himself shut up within the 
lattice-work of the Araba, and I could hardly know 
how he was faring until the end of the day's journey, 
when I found that he was not worse, and was buoyed 
up with the hope of some day reaching Constantinople. 

I was always conning over my maps, and fancied 
that I knew pretty well my line, but after Adrianople I 
had made more southing than I knew for, and it was 
with unbelieving wonder, and delight, that I came 
suddenly upon the shore of the sea ; a little while, and 
its gentle billows were flowing beneath the hoofs of my 
beast, but the hearing of the ripple was not enough 
communion, — and the seeing of the blue Propontis was 
hot to know, and possess it — I must needs plunge into 
its depths, and quench my longing love in the palpable 
waves j and so when old Moostapha (defender against 
demons) looked round for his charge, he saw with 
horror and dismay, that he for whose life his own life 
stood pledged, was possessed of some devil who had 
driven him down into the sea — that the rider, and the 
steed had vanished from earth, and that out among the 
waves was the gasping crest of a post horse, and the 
pale head of the Englishman moving upon the face of 
the waters. 

We started very early indeed, on the last day of our 
journey, and from the moment of being off, until we 
gained the shelter of the imperial walls, we were 
struggling face to face with an icy storm that swept 
right down from the steppes of Tartary, keen, fierce, 
and steady as a northern conqueror. Methley's serv- 
ant, who was the greatest sufferer, kept his saddle 
until we reached Stamboul, but was then found to be 
quite benumbed in limbs, and his brain was so much 
affected, that when he was lifted from his horse, he fell 
away in a state of unconsciousness, the first stage of a 
dangerous fever. 

Methley, in his Araba, had been sheltered from the 



24 



EOTHEN 



storm, but he was sadly ill. I myself bore up capitally 
for a delicate person, but I was so well watered, and 
the blood of my veins had shrunk away so utterly from 
the chilling touch of the blast, that I must have looked 
more fit for a watery grave, than for the city of the 
Prince, whom men call " Brother of the Sun." 

Our Tatar, worn down by care, and toil, and carry- 
ing seven heavens full of water, in his manifold jackets, 
and shawls, was a mere weak, and vapid dilution of 
the sleek Moostapha, who scarce more than one fort- 
night before came out like a bridegroom from his 
chamber, to take the command of our party. 

Mysseri seemed somewhat over-wearied, but he had 
lost none of his strangely quiet energy ; he wore a grave 
look, however, for he now had learnt that the plague 
was prevailing at Constantinople, and he was fearing 
that our two sick men, and the miserable looks of our 
whole party, might make us unwelcome at Pera. 

Our poor, dear portmanteaus, whose sharp angular 
forms had rebelled so rudely against the pack-saddles 
were now reduced to soft, pulpy substances, and the 
things which were in them could plainly be of no 
immediate use to anybody but a merman, or a river- 
god; the carpet-bags seemed to contain nothing but 
mere solutions of coats and boots, escaping drop by 
drop. 

We crossed the Golden Horn in a caique ; as soon as 
we had landed, some woe-begone looking fellows were 
got together, and laden with our baggage. Then, on 
we went, dripping, and sloshing, and looking very like 
men that had been turned back by the Royal Humane 
Society, as being incurably drowned. Supporting our 
sick, we climbed up shelving steps, and threaded many 
windings, and at last came up into the main street of 
Pera, humbly hoping that we might not be judged 
guilty of plague, and so be cast back with horror from 
the doors of the shuddering Christians. 

Such was the condition of our party, which fifteen 
days before had filed away so gaily from the gates of 



BELGRADE TO CONSTANTINOPLE 1 25 



Belgrade. A couple of fevers, and a north-easterly 
storm had thoroughly spoiled our looks. 

The interest of Mysseri with the house of Giuseppini 
was too powerful to be denied, and at once, though 
not without fear and trembling, we were admitted as 
guests. 



CHAPTER III 



CONSTANTINOPLE 

EVEN if we don't take a part in the chaunt about 
" Mosques, and Minarets," we can still yield praises 
to Stamboul. We can chaunt about the harbour ; we 
can say, and sing, that nowhere else does the sea come 
so home to a city ; there are no pebbly shores — no sand 
bars — no slimy river-beds — no black canals — no locks, 
nor docks to divide the very heart of the place from 
the deep waters ; if, being in the noisiest mart of 
Stamboul, you would stroll to the quiet side of the way 
amidst those Cypresses opposite, you will cross the 
fathomless Bosphorus ; if you would go from your 
hotel to the Bazaars, you must go by the bright, blue 
pathway of the Golden Horn, that can carry a thousand 
sail of the line. You are accustomed to the Gondolas 
that glide among the palaces of St. Mark, but here at 
Stamboul it is a hundred-and-twenty-gun-ship that 
meets you in the street. Venice strains out from the 
stedfast land, and in old times would send forth the 
Chief of the State to woo, and wed the reluctant sea ; 
but the stormy bride of the Doge is the bowing slave 
of the Sultan — she comes to his feet with the treasures 
of the world — she bears him from palace to palace — by 
some unfailing witchcraft, she entices the breezes to 
follow her, 1 and fan the pale cheek of her lord — she lifts 
his armed navies to the very gates of his garden — she 

1 There is almost always a breeze either from the Marmora, or 
from the Black Sea, that passes along through the Bosphorus. 



CONSTANTINOPLE 



27 



watches the walls of his Serail — she stifles the intrigues 
of his Ministers — she quiets the scandals of his Court 
— she extinguishes his rivals, and hushes his naughty 
wives all one by one. So vast are the wonders of the 
Deep ! 

All the while that I staid at Constantinople, the 
Plague was prevailing, but not with any degree of viol- 
ence ; its presence, however, lent a mysterious, and 
exciting, though not very pleasant interest to my first 
knowledge of a great Oriental city ; it gave tone, and 
colour to all I saw, and all I felt — a tone, and a colour 
sombre enough, but true, and well befitting the dreary 
monuments of past power, and splendour. With all 
that is most truly oriental in its character, the Plague 
is associated; it dwells with the faithful in the holiest 
quarters of their city: the coats, and the hats of Pera, 
are held to be nearly as innocent of infection, as they 
are ugly in shape, and fashion ; but the rich furs, and 
the costly shawls, the broidered slippers, and the gold- 
laden saddle-cloths — the fragrance of burning aloes, 
and the rich aroma of patchouli — these are the signs 
which mark the familiar home of Plague. You go out 
from your living London — the centre of the greatest, 
and strongest amongst all earthly dominions — you go 
out thence, and travel on to the capital of an Eastern 
Prince — you find but a waning power, and a faded 
splendour, that inclines you to laugh, and mock, but 
let the infernal Angel of Plague be at hand, and he, 
more mighty than armies — more terrible than Suley- 
man in his glory, can restore such pomp, and majesty 
to the weakness of the Imperial walls, that if, when 
HE is there^ you must still go prying amongst the 
shades of this dead Empire, at least you will tread the 
path with seemly reverence, and awe. 

It is the firm faith of almost all the Europeans living 
in the East, that Plague is conveyed by the touch of 
infected substances, and that the deadly atoms especi- 
ally lurk in all kinds of clothes, and furs : it is held 
safer, to breathe the same air with a man sick of the 



28 



EOTHEN 



Plague, and even to come in contact with his skin, than 
to be touched by the smallest particle of woollen, or of 
thread which may have been within the reach of possible 
infection. If this notion be correct, the spread of the 
malady must be materially aided by the observance of 
a custom which prevails amongst the people of Stam- 
boul ; when an Osmanlee dies, it is usual to cut up one 
of his dresses, and to send a small piece of it to each 
of his friends, as a memorial of the departed. A fatal 
present is this, according to the opinion of the Franks, 
for it too often forces the living not merely to remem- 
ber the dead man, but to follow, and bear him com- 
pany. 

The Europeans during the prevalence of the Plague, 
if they are forced to venture into the streets, will care- 
fully avoid the touch of every human being whom they 
pass ; their conduct in this respect shews them 
strongly in contrast with the " true believers the 
Moslem stalks on serenely, as though he were under 
the eye of his God, and were " equal to either fate the 
Franks go crouching, and slinking from death, and 
some (those chiefly of French extraction) will fondly 
strive to fence out Destiny with shining capes of 
oilskin ! 

For some time you may manage by great care to 
thread your way through the streets of Stamboul, with- 
out incurring contact, for the Turks, though scornful 
of the terrors felt by the Franks, are generally very 
courteous in yielding to that which they hold to be a 
useless, and impious precaution, and will let you pass 
safe, if they can. It is impossible, however, that your 
immunity can last for any length of time, if you move 
about much through the narrow streets, and lanes of a 
crowded city. 

As for me, I soon got " compromised." After one 
day of rest, the prayers of my hostess began to lose 
their power of keeping me from the pestilent side of 
the Golden Horn. Faithfully promising to shun the 
touch of all imaginable substances, however enticing, 



CONSTANTINOPLE 



29 



I set off very cautiously, and held my way uncom- 
promised, till I reached the water's edge ; but during 
the moment that I was waiting for my caique, some 
rueful-looking fellows came rapidly shambling down 
the steps with a plague-stricken corpse, which they 
were going to bury amongst the faithful on the other 
side of the water. I contrived to be so much in the 
way of this brisk funeral, that I was not only touched 
by the men bearing the body, but also, I believe, by 
the foot of the dead man, which was lolling out of the 
bier. This accident gave me such a strong interest in 
denying the soundness of the contagion theory, that I 
did in fact deny, and repudiate it altogether ; and 
from that time, acting upon my own convenient view 
of the matter, I went wherever I chose, without taking 
any serious pains to avoid a touch. I have now some 
reason to think that the Europeans may be right, and 
that the Plague may be really conveyed by contagion ; 
but whilst I remained in the East, I happily entertained 
ideas more approaching to those of the fatalist ; and 
so, when I afterwards encountered the Plague in full 
force, I was able to live amongst the dying with much 
less anxiety of mind, than I should have suffered, if I 
had believed that every touch which I met with, was a 
possible death-stroke. 

And perhaps as you make your difficult way, through 
a steep, and narrow alley, which winds between blank 
walls, and is little frequented by passers, you meet one 
of those coffin-shaped bundles of white linen which 
implies an Ottoman lady. Painfully struggling against 
the obstacles to progression which are interposed by 
the many folds of her clumsy drapery, by her big mud 
boots, and especially by her two pairs of slippers, she 
waddles along full awkwardly enough, but yet there is 
something of womanly consciousness in the very labour, 
and effort with which she tugs, and lifts the burthen of 
her charms ; she is close followed by her women slaves. 
Of her very self you see nothing, except the dark, 
luminous eyes that stare against your face, and the tips 



30 



EOTHEN 



of the painted fingers depending like rose-buds from 
out the blank bastions of the fortress. She turns, and 
turns again, and carefully glances around her on all 
sides, to see that she is safe from the eyes of Mussul- 
mans, and then suddenly withdrawing the yashmak, 1 
she shines upon your heart, and soul with all the pomp, 
and might of her beauty. And this which so dizzies 
your brain, is not the light, changeful grace, which 
leaves you to doubt whether you have fallen in love 
with a body, or only a soul ; it is the beauty that dwells 
secure in the perfectness of hard, downright outlines, 
and in the glow of generous colour. There is fire, 
though too — high courage, and fire enough in the un- 
tamed mind, or spirit, or whatever it is, which drives 
the breath of pride through those scarcely parted lips. 

You smile at pretty women — you turn pale before the 
beauty that is great enough to have dominion over you. 
She sees, and exults in your giddiness ; she sees and 
smiles ; then presently, with a sudden movement, she 
lays her blushing fingers upon your arm, and cries out, 
" Yumourdjak ! ; ' (Plague ! meaning, " there is a 
present of the Plague for you ! ") This is her notion of 
a witticism : it is a very old piece of fun, no doubt — 
quite an oriental Joe Miller ; but the Turks are fondly 
attached, not only to the institutions, but also to the 
jokes of their ancestors ; so, the lady's silvery laugh 
rings joyously in your ears, and the mirth of her women 
is boisterous, and fresh, as though the bright idea of 
giving the Plague to a Christian had newly lit upon the 
earth. 

Methley began to rally very soon after we had 
reached Constantinople, but there seemed at first to be 
no chance of his regaining strength enough for travel- 
ling during the winter ; and I determined to stay with 
my comrade, until he had quite recovered ; so I got a 

1 The Yashmak, you know, is not a mere, semi-transparent 
veil, but rather a good substantial petticoat applied to the face ; 
it thoroughly conceals all the features, except the eyes ; the way 
of withdrawing it is by pulling it down. 



CONSTANTINOPLE 



3i 



horse, and a pipe of tranquillity, 1 and took a Turkish 
phrase-master. I troubled myself a great deal with the 
Turkish tongue, and gained at last some knowledge of 
its structure ; it is enriched, perhaps overladen, with 
Persian and Arabic words, which have been imported 
into the language, chiefly for the purpose of represent- 
ing sentiments, and religious dogmas, and terms of art 
and luxury, which were all unknown to the Tatar an- 
cestors of the present Osmanlees ; but the body, and 
spirit of the old tongue are yet alive, and the smooth 
words of the shop-keeper at Constantinople can still 
carry understanding to the ears of the untamed millions 
who rove over the plains of Northern Asia. The 
structure of the language, especially in its more lengthy 
sentences, is very like to the Latin ; the subject matters 
are slowly, and patiently enumerated, without disclosing 
the purpose of the speaker until he reaches the end of 
his sentence, and then at last there comes the clench- 
ing word, which gives a meaning, and connexion to all 
that has gone before. If you listen at all to speaking 
of this kind, your attention, rather than be suffered to 
flag, must grow more and more lively, as the phrase 
marches on. 

The Osmanlees speak well. In countries civilized 
according to the European plan, the work of trying to 
persuade tribunals is almost all performed by a set of 
men, the great body of whom very seldom do any thing 
else ; but in Turkey, this division of labour has never 
taken place, and every man is his own advocate. The 
importance of the rhetorical art is immense, for a bad 
speech may endanger the property of the speaker, as 
well as the soles of his feet, and the free enjoyment of 
his throat. So it results that most of the Turks whom 
one sees, have a lawyer-like habit of speaking con- 
nectedly, and at length. The treaties continually going 

1 [The ' ' pipe of tranquillity " is a tchibouque too long to be 
conveniently carried on a journey : the possession of it therefore 
implies that its owner is stationary, or at all events that he is en- 
joying a long repose from travel. — Note in Fourth Edition. ~\ 



32 



EOTHEN 



on in the bazaar for the buying and selling of the merest 
trifles, are carried on by speechifying, rather than by 
mere colloquies, and the eternal uncertainty as to the 
market value of things in constant sale, gives room for 
endless discussion. The seller is for ever demanding 
a price immensely beyond that for which he sells at last, 
and so occasions unspeakable disgust to many English- 
men, who cannot see why an honest dealer should ask 
more for his goods than he will really take : — the truth 
is, however, that an ordinary tradesman of Constantin- 
ople has no other way of finding out the fair market 
value of his property. The difficulty under which he 
labours is easily shewn by comparing the mechanism 
of the commercial system in Turkey, with that of our 
own country. In England, or in any other great mer- 
cantile country, the bulk of the things which are bought 
and sold, goes through the hands of a wholesale dealer, 
and it is he who higgles and bargains with an entire 
nation of purchasers, by entering into treaty with retail 
sellers. The labour of making a few large contracts is 
sufficient to give a clue for finding the fair market value 
of the things sold throughout the country ; but in Turkey, 
from the primitive habits of the people, and partly from 
the absence of great capital, and great credit, the im- 
porting merchant, the warehouseman, the wholesale 
dealer, the retail dealer, and the shopman, are all one 
person. Old Moostapha, or Abdallah, or Hadgi Mo- 
hamed waddles up from the water's edge with a small 
packet of merchandise, which he has bought out of a 
Greek brigantine, and when at last he has reached his 
nook in the bazaar, he puts his goods before the counter, 
and himself upon it — then laying fire to his tchibouque 
he " sits in permanence," and patiently waits to obtain 
" the best price that can be got in an open market." 
This is his fair right as a seller, but he has no means 
of finding out what that best price is, except by actual 
experiment. He cannot know the intensity of the de- 
mand, or the abundance of the supply, otherwise than 
by the offers which may be made for his little bundle 



CONSTANTINOPLE 



33 



of goods ; so he begins by asking a perfectly hopeless 
price, and thence descends the ladder until he meets 
a purchaser, for ever 

' ' striving to attain 
By shadowing out the unattainable. " 

This is the struggle which creates the continual 
occasion for debate. The vendor perceiving that the 
unfolded merchandise has caught the eye of a possible 
purchaser, commences his opening speech. He covers 
his bristling broadcloths, and his meagre silks, with the 
golden broidery of oriental praises, and as he talks, 
along with the slow, and graceful waving of his arms, 
he lifts his undulating periods, upholds, and poises them 
well, till they have gathered their weight, and their 
strength, and then hurls them bodily forward, with 
grave, momentous swing. The possible purchaser 
listens to the whole speech with deep, and serious atten- 
tion ; but when it is over, his turn arrives ; he elabor- 
ately endeavours to shew why he ought not to buy the 
things at a price twenty times more than their value : 
bye-standers attracted to the debate, take a part in it 
as independent members — the vendor is heard in reply, 
and coming down with his price, furnishes the materials 
for a new debate. Sometimes, however, the dealer, if 
he is a very pious Mussulman, and sufficiently rich to 
hold back his ware, will take a more dignified part, 
maintaining a kind of judicial gravity, and receiving 
the applicants who come to his stall, as if they were 
rather suitors, than customers. He will quietly hear 
to the end, some long speech which concludes with an 
offer, and will answer it all with the one monosyllable 
"Yok," which means distinctly "No." 

I caught one glimpse of the old Heathen World. 
My habits of studying military subjects had been 
hardening my heart against Poetry. For ever staring 
at the flames of battle, I had blinded myself to the lesser, 
and finer lights that are shed from the imaginations of 
men. In my reading at this time, I delighted to follow 

D 



34 



EOTHEN 



from out of Arabian sands, the feet of the armed believers, 
and to stand in the broad, manifest storm-track of 
Tartar devastation ; and thus, though surrounded at 
Constantinople, by scenes of much interest to the 
" classical scholar," I had cast aside their associations 
like an old Greek grammar, and turned my face to the 
" shining Orient," forgetful of old Greece, and all the 
pure wealth she has left to this matter-of-fact-ridden 
world. But it happened to me one day to mount the 
high grounds overhanging the streets of Pera ; I sated 
my eyes with the pomps of the city, and its crowded 
waters, and then I looked over where Scutari lay half 
veiled in her mournful cypresses ; I looked yet farther, 
and higher, and saw in the heavens a silvery cloud 
that stood fast, and still against the breeze ; it was pure, 
and dazzling white as might be the veil of Cytherea, 
yet touched with such fire, as though from beneath, the 
loving eyes of an immortal were shining through and 
through. I knew the bearing, but had enormously 
misjudged its distance, and underrated its height, and 
so it was as a sign, and a testimony — almost as a call 
from the neglected Gods, that now I saw, and acknow- 
ledged the snowy crown of the Mysian Olympus ! 



CHAPTER IV 



THE TROAD 

METHLEY recovered almost suddenly, and we 
determined to go through the Troad together. 
My comrade was a capital Grecian ; it is true that 
his singular mind so ordered, and disposed the classic 
lore, which he had gained, as to impress it with some- 
thing of an original, and barbarous character— with an 
almost Gothic quaintness, more properly belonging to 
a rich native ballad, than to the poetry of Hellas ; there 
was a certain impropriety in his knowing so much 
Greek-^an unfitness in the idea of marble fauns, and 
satyrs, and even Olympian Gods, lugged in under the 
oaken roof, and the painted light of an odd, old Norman 
hall. But Methley abounding in Homer, really loved 
him (as I believe,) in all truth, without whim, or fancy ; 
moreover, he had a good deal of the practical sagacity 
or sharpness, or whatever you may call it 

" of a Yorkshireman hippodamoio," 

and this enabled him to apply his knowledge with 
much more tact than is usually shewn by people so 
learned as he. 

I too, loved Homer, but not with a scholar's love. 
The most humble, and pious amongst women was yet 
so proud a mother that she could teach her firstborn 
son, no Watts 7 hymns—no collects for the day ; she 
could teach him in earliest childhood, no less than this 
—to find a home in his saddle, and to love old Homer, 



36 



EOTHEN 



and all that old Homer sung. True it is, that the 
Greek was ingeniously rendered into English — the 
English of Pope even, but it is not such a mesh as 
that, that can screen an earnest child from the fire of 
Homer's battles. 

I pored over the Odyssey as over a story-book, 
hoping, and fearing for the hero whom yet I partly 
scorned. But the Iliad— line by line, I clasped it to 
my brain with reverence as well as with love. As an 
old woman deeply trustful sits reading her Bible 
because of the world to come, so, as though it would 
fit me for the coming strife of this temporal world, I 
read, and read the Iliad. Even outwardly it was not 
like other books ; it was throned in towering folios. 
There was a preface or dissertation printed in type 
still more majestic than the rest of the book ; this I 
read, but not till my enthusiasm for the Iliad had 
already run high. The writer compiling the opinions 
of many men, and chiefly of the ancients, set forth, I 
know not how quaintly, that the Iliad was all in all to 
the human race — that it was history — poetry — revela- 
tion — that the works of men's hands were folly and 
vanity, and would pass away like the dreams of a 
child, but that the kingdom of Homer would endure 
for ever and ever. 

I assented with all my soul. I read, and still read ; 
I came to know Homer. A learned commentator 
knows something of the Greeks, in the same sense as 
an oil and colour-man maybe said to know something 
of painting, but take an untamed child, and leave him 
alone for twelve months with any translation of Homer, 
and he will be nearer by twenty centuries to the spirit 
of old Greece ; he does not stop in the ninth year of 
the siege, to admire this or that group of words — he 
has no books in his tent, but he shares in vital counsels 
with the " King of men," and knows the inmost souls 
of the impending Gods ; how profanely he exults over 
the powers divine, when they are taught to dread the 
prowess of mortals ! and most of all how he rejoices 



THE TROAD 



37 



when the God of War flies howling from the spear of 
Diomed, and mounts into Heaven for safety ! Then 
the beautiful episode of the 6th Book : the way to feel 
this is not to go casting about, and learning from 
pastors, and masters, how best to admire it ; the 
impatient child is not grubbing for beauties, but 
pushing the siege ; the women vex him with their 
delays, and their talking — the mention of the nurse is 
personal, and little sympathy has he for the child that 
is young enough to be frightened at the nodding plume 
of a helmet, but all the while that he thus chafes at 
the pausing of the action, the strong vertical light of 
Homer's Poetry is blazing so full upon the people, and 
things of the Iliad, that soon to the eyes of the child, 
they grow familiar as his mother's shawl ; yet of this 
great gain he is unconscious, and on he goes, venge- 
fully thirsting for the best blood of Troy, and never 
remitting his fierceness, till almost suddenly it is 
changed for sorrow — the new, and generous sorrow 
that he learns to feel, when the noblest of all his foes 
lies sadly dying at the Scsean gate. 

Heroic days were these, but the dark ages of school- 
boy life came closing over them. I suppose it J s all 
right in the end, yet, by Jove, at first sight it does 
seem a sad intellectual fall from your mother's dressing- 
room to a buzzing school. You feel so keenly the 
delights of early knowledge ! you form strange mystic 
friendships with the mere names of mountains, and 
seas, and continents, and mighty rivers ; you learn the 
ways of the planets, and transcend their narrow limits, 
and ask for the end of space ; you vex the electric 
cylinder till it yields you, for your toy to play with, that 
subtle fire in which our earth was forged ; you know of 
the nations that have towered high in the world, and 
the lives of the men who have saved whole Empires 
from oblivion. What more will you ever learn ? Yet 
the dismal change is ordained, and then, thin, meagre 
Latin (the same for every body,) with small shreds, and 
patches of Greek, is thrown like a pauper's pall over 



38 



EOTHEN 



all your early lore ; instead of sweet knowledge, vile, 
monkish, doggrell grammars, and graduses, Dic- 
tionaries, and Lexicons, and horrible odds and ends of 
dead languages are given you for your portion, and 
down you fall, from Roman story to a three inch scrap 
of " Scriptores Romani," — from Greek poetry, down, 
down to the cold rations of " Poetae Graeci," cut up by 
commentators, and served out by schoolmasters ! 
4, It was not the recollection of school, nor college 
learning, but the rapturous, and earnest reading of my 
childhood which made me bend forward so longingly 
to the plains of Troy. 

Away from our people and our horses, Methley and 
I went loitering along, by the willowy banks of a 
stream that crept in quietness through the low, even 
plain. There was no stir of weather over-head — no 
sound of rural labour — no sign of life in the land, but 
all the earth, was dead, and still, as though it had lain 
for thrice a thousand years under the leaden gloom of 
one unbroken sabbath. 

Softly, and sadly the poor, dumb, patient stream 
went winding, and winding along, through its shifting 
pathway ; in some places its waters were parted, and 
then again, lower down, they would meet once more. 
I could see that the stream from year to year was 
finding itself new channels, and flowed no longer in its 
ancient track, but I knew that the springs which fed 
it were high on Ida — the springs of Simois and 
Scamander ! 

It was coldly, and thanklessly, and with vacant un- 
satisfied eyes that I watched the slow coming, and the 
gliding away of the waters ; I tell myself now, as a 
profane fact, that I did indeed stand by that river, 
(Methley gathered some seeds from the bushes that 
grew there,) but, since that I am away from his banks, 
"divine Scamander" has recovered the proper mystery 
belonging to him, as an unseen deity ; a kind of 
indistinctness, like that which belongs to far antiquity, 
has spread itself over my memory, of the winding 



THE TROAD 



39 



stream that I saw with these very eyes. One's mind 
regains in absence that dominion over earthly things 
which has been shaken by their rude contact ; you 
force yourself hardily into the material presence of a 
mountain, or a river, whose name belongs to poetry, 
and ancient religion, rather than to the external world ; 
your feelings wound up and kept ready for some sort 
of half-expected rapture are chilled, and borne down 
for the time under all this load of real earth and water, 
but, let these once pass out of sight, and then again the 
old fanciful notions are restored, and the mere realities 
which you have just been looking at are thrown back 
so far into distance, that the very event of your intrusion 
upon such scenes, begins to look dim, and uncertain as 
though it belonged to mythology. 

It is not over the plain before Troy that the river 
now flows ; its waters have edged away far towards the 
north, since the day that " divine Scamander," (whom 
the Gods call Xanthus) went down to do battle for I lion, 
"with Mars, and Phoebus, and Latona, and Diana 
glorying in her arrows, and Venus the lover of smiles." 

And now, when I was vexed at the migration of 
Scamander, and the total loss, or absorption of poor 
dear Simois, how happily Methley reminded me that 
Homer himself had warned us of some such changes ! 
The Greeks in beginning their wall had neglected the 
hecatombs due to the Gods, and so, after the fall of 
Troy, Apollo turned the paths of the rivers that flow 
from Ida, and sent them flooding over the wall till all 
the beach was smooth, and free from the unhallowed 
works of the Greeks. It is true I see now, on looking 
to the passage, that Neptune, when the work of 
destruction was done, turned back the rivers to their 
ancient ways : 

. . . iroretfjiovj; £Yrps4<£ nzgQat 
Kap' £oov hjreg 7T£o<r0£v ibv jtctXXt^oov vfifog, [//. xii. 32.] 

but their old channels passing through that light 
pervious soil would have been lost in the nine days' 



40 



EOTHEN 



flood, and perhaps the God, when he willed to bring 
back the rivers to their ancient beds, may have done 
his work but ill ; it is easier, they say, to destroy than 
it is to restore. 

We took to our horses again, and went southward 
towards the very plain, between Troy and the tents of 
the Greeks, but we rode by a line at some distance 
from the shore. Whether it was that the lay of the 
ground hindered my view, towards the sea, or that I 
was all intent upon Ida, or whether my mind was in 
vacancy, or whether, as is most like, I had strayed 
from the Dardan plains, all back to gentle England, 
there is now no knowing, nor caring, but it was — not 
quite suddenly indeed, but rather as it were, in the 
swelling, and falling of a single wave, that the reality 
of that very sea-view, which had bounded the sight of 
the Greeks, now visibly acceded to me, and rolled full 
in upon my brain. Conceive how deeply that eternal 
coast-line — that fixed horizon — those island rocks 
must have graven their images upon the minds of the 
Grecian warriors by the time that they had reached 
the ninth year of the siege ! conceive the strength, and 
the fanciful beauty, of the speeches with which a whole 
army of imagining men must have told their weariness, 
and how the sauntering chiefs must have whelmed 
that daily, daily scene with their deep Ionian curses ! 

And now it was that my eyes were greeted with a 
delightful surprise. Whilst we were at Constantinople, 
Methley and I had pored over the map together ; we 
agreed that whatever may have been the exact site 
of Troy, the Grecian camp must have been nearly 
opposite to the space betwixt the islands of Imbros 
and Tenedos : — 

Micrcnyvq TevbSoio na,i J^pov iranrcLhovro-nq xiii. 33.] 

but Methley reminded me of a passage in the Iliad in 
which Jove is represented as looking at the scene of 
action before Ilion from above the island of Samothrace. 
Now, Samothrace, according to the map, appeared to 



THE TROAD 



4i 



be not only out of all seeing distance from the Troad, 
but to be entirely shut out from it by the intervening 
Imbros, which is a larger island, stretching its length 
right athwart the line of sight from Samothrace to Troy. 
Piously allowing that the eagle eye of Jove might have 
seen the strife even from his own Olympus, I still felt 
that if a station were to be chosen from which to see 
the fight, old Homer, so material in his ways of thought, 
so averse from all haziness, and overreaching, would 
have meant to give the Thunderer a station within the 
reach of men's eyes from the plains of Troy. I think 
that this testing of the poet's words by map and 
compass, may have shaken a little of my faith in the 
completeness of his knowledge. Well, now I had come ; 
there to the south was Tenedos, and here at my side 
was Imbros, all right, and according to the map, but 
aloft over Imbros — aloft in a far away Heaven was 
Samothrace, the watch-tower of Jove ! 1 

So Homer had appointed it, and so it was ; the map 
was correct enough, but could not, like Homer, convey 
the whole truth. Thus vain, and false are the mere 
human surmises, and doubts which clash with Homeric 
writ ! 

Nobody, whose mind had not been reduced to the 
most deplorably logical condition, could look upon this 
beautiful congruity betwixt the Iliad and the material 
world, and yet bear to suppose that the poet may have 
learned the features of the coast from mere hearsay ; 
now then, I believed — now I knew that Homer had 
passed along here^ — that this vision of Samothrace 
over-towering the nearer island was common to him, 
and to me. 

After a journey of some few days by the route of 
Adramiti and Pergamo, we reached Smyrna. The 
letters which Methley here received obliged him to 
return to England. 

1 [In this passage the author has by an oversight (corrected in 
later editions) substituted Jove for Neptune. See //. xiii. 10: 
ov¥ a\aog tntoirinv zT%z Kpeicov Ivoo-lyQiov h.t.A.] 



CHAPTER V 



INFIDEL SMYRNA 

SMYRNA, or Giaour Izmir, as the Mussulmans call 
it, is the main point of commercial contact be- 
twixt Europe, and Asia ; you are there surrounded 
by the people, and the confused customs of many, and 
various nations — you see the fussy European adopting 
the East, and calming his restlessness with the long 
Turkish pipe of tranquillity — you see Jews offering 
services, and receiving blows 1 — on one side you have 
a fellow whose dress, and beard would give you a good 
idea of the true oriental, if it were not for the gobe- 
mouche expression of countenance with which he is 
swallowing an article in the National, and there, just 
by, is a genuine Osmanlee, smoking away with all the 
majesty of a Sultan, but before you have time to admire 
sufficiently his tranquil dignity, and his soft Asiatic 

1 The Jews of Smyrna are poor, and having little merchandise 
of their own to dispose of, they are sadly importunate in offering 
their services as intermediaries ; their troublesome conduct has 
led to the custom of beating them in the open streets. It is 
usual for Europeans to carry long sticks with them, for the express 
purpose of keeping off the chosen people. I always felt ashamed 
to strike the poor fellows myself, but I confess to the amusement 
with which I witnessed the observance of this custom by other 
people. The Jew seldom got hurt much, for he was always ex- 
pecting the blow, and was ready to recede from it the moment it 
came ; one could not help being rather gratified at seeing him 
bound away so nimbly with his long robes floating out in the 
air, and then again wheel round, and return with fresh impor- 
tunities. 



INFIDEL SMYRNA 



43 



repose, the poor old fellow is ruthlessly "run down " by 
an English midshipman, who has set sail on a Smyrna 
hack. Such are the incongruities of the " infidel city," 
at ordinary times ; but when I was there, our friend 
Carrigaholt had imported himself, and his oddities as 
an accession to the other, and inferior wonders of 
Smyrna. 

I was sitting alone in my room one day at Constan- 
tinople, when I heard Methley approaching my door 
with snouts of laughter, and welcome, and presently 
I recognized that peculiar cry by which our friend 
Carrigaholt expresses his emotions ; he soon explained 
to us the final causes by which the fates had worked 
out their wonderful purpose of bringing him to Con- 
stantinople. He was always, you know, very fond 
of sailing, but he had got into such sad scrapes 
(including I think a lawsuit) on account of his last 
yacht, that he took it into his head to have a cruise in 
a merchant vessel, so he went to Liverpool, and looked 
through the craft lying ready to sail, till he found a 
smart schooner which perfectly suited his taste : the 
destination of the vessel was the last thing he thought of, 
and when he was told that she was bound for Constan- 
tinople, he merely assented to that as a part of the 
arrangement to which he had no objection. When the 
vessel had sailed, the hapless passenger discovered 
that his skipper carried on board an enormous wife 
with an inquiring mind, and an irresistible tendency to 
impart her opinions. She looked upon her guest as 
upon a piece of waste intellect that ought to be care- 
fully tilled. She tilled him accordingly. If the Dons 
at Oxford could have seen poor Carrigaholt thus abso- 
lutely " attending lectures " in the Bay of Biscay, they 
would surely have thought him sufficiently punished 
for all the wrongs he did them, whilst he was preparing 
himself under their care for the other, and more 
boisterous University. The voyage did not last more 
than six, or eight weeks, and the philosophy inflicted 
on Carrigaholt was not entirely fatal to him ; certainly 



44 EOTHEN 

he was somewhat emaciated, and for aught I know, he 
may have subscribed somewhat too largely to the 
" Feminine-right-of-reason Society ;" but it did not 
appear that his health had been seriously affected. 
There was a scheme on foot, it would seem, for taking 
the passenger back to England in the same schooner— 
a scheme, in fact, for keeping him perpetually afloat, 
and perpetually saturated with arguments ; but when 
Carrigaholt found himself a'shore, and remembered 
that the skipperina, (who had imprudently remained on 
board,) was not there to enforce her suggestions, he was 
open to the hints of his servant (a very sharp fellow), 
who arranged a plan for escaping, and finally brought 
off his master to Giuseppini's Hotel. 

Our friend afterwards went by sea to Smyrna, and 
there he now was in his glory. He had a good, or at 
all events a gentleman-like judgment in matters of taste, 
and as his great object was to surround himself with 
all that his fancy could dictate, he lived in a state of 
perpetual negotiation ; he was for ever on the point of 
purchasing, not only the material productions of the 
place, but all sorts of such fine ware as " intelligence," 
" fidelity," and so on. He was most curious, however, 
as the purchaser of the " affections." Sometimes he 
would imagine that he had a marital aptitude, and his 
fancy would sketch a graceful picture, in which he 
appeared reclining on a divan, with a beautiful Greek 
woman fondly couched at his feet, and soothing him 
with the witchery of her guitar ; having satisfied him- 
self with the ideal picture thus created, he would pass 
into action ; the guitar he would buy instantly, and 
would give such intimations of his wish to be wedded 
to a Greek, as could not fail to produce great excite- 
ment in the families of the beautiful Smyrniotes. Then 
again, (and just in time perhaps to save him from the 
yoke,) his dream would pass away, and another would 
come in its stead ; he would suddenly feel the yearnings 
of a father's love, and willing by force of gold to tran- 
scend all natural preliminaries,, he would give instruc- 



INFIDEL SMYRNA 



45 



tions for the purchase of some dutiful child that could 
be warranted to love him as a parent. Then at another 
time he would be convinced that the attachment of 
menials might satisfy the longings of his affectionate 
heart, and thereupon he would give orders to his slave- 
merchant for something in the way of eternal fidelity 
You may well imagine that this anxiety of Carrigaholt 
to purchase (not only the scenery) but the many dra- 
matis personam belonging to his dreams, with all their 
goodness, and graces complete, necessarily gave an 
immense stimulus to the trade, and intrigue of Smyrna, 
and created a demand for human virtues which the 
moral resources of the place were totally inadequate to 
supply. Every day after breakfast, this lover of the 
Good and the Beautiful, held a levee, which was often 
exceedingly amusing ; in his ante-room, there would 
be not only the sellers of pipes, and slippers, and shawls, 
and such like Oriental merchandise, not only embroi- 
derers, and cunning workmen patiently striving to 
realize his visions of Albanian dresses — not only the 
servants offering for places, and the slave-dealer tender- 
ing his sable ware, but there would be the Greek master, 
waiting to teach his pupil the grammar of the soft 
Ionian tongue, in which he was to delight the wife of 
his imagination, and the music-master who was to teach 
him some sweet replies to the anticipated sounds of the 
fancied guitar ; and then above all, and proudly eminent 
with undisputed preference of entree, and fraught with 
the mysterious tidings on which the realization of the 
whole dream might depend, was the mysterious match- 
maker, 1 enticing, and postponing the suitor, yet ever 
keeping alive in his soul the love of that pictured virtue 
whose beauty, (unseen by eyes) was half revealed to the 
Imagination. 

You would have thought that this practical dreaming, 
must have soon brought Carrigaholt to a bad end, but 
he was in much less danger than you would suppose ; 

1 Marriages in the East are arranged by professed match- 
makers ; many of these, I believe, are Jewesses. 



4 6 



EOTHEN 



for besides that the new visions of happiness almost 
always came in time to counteract the fatal completion 
of the preceding scheme, his high breeding, and his 
delicately sensitive taste almost always came to his 
aid, at times, when he was left without any other pro- 
tection, and the efficacy of these qualities in keeping a 
man out of harm's way is really immense ; in all base- 
ness and imposture there is a coarse, vulgar spirit, 
which, however artfully concealed for a time, must 
sooner or later shew itself in some little circumstance, 
sufficiently plain to occasion an instant jar upon the 
minds of those whose taste is lively and true ; to such 
men a shock of this kind disclosing the ugliness of a 
cheat, is more effectively convincing, than any mere 
proofs could be. 

Thus guarded from isle to isle, and through Greece, 
and through Albania, this practical Plato, with a purse 
in his hand, carried on his mad chase after the Good 
and the Beautiful, and yet returned in safety to his 
home. — But now, poor fellow ! the lowly grave, that is 
the end of men's romantic hopes, has closed over all 
his rich fancies, and all his high aspirations ; he is 
utterly married ! No more hope, no more change for 
him — no more delays — he must go on Vetturini-wise to 
the appointed end of his journey ! 

Smyrna, I think, may be called the chief town, and 
capital of the Grecian race, against which you will be 
cautioned so carefully as soon as you touch the Levant. 
You will say that I ought not to confound as one people 
the Greeks living under a constitutional government, 
with the unfortunate Rayahs who " groan under the 
Turkish yoke," but I can't see that political events have 
hitherto produced any strongly marked difference of 
character. If I could venture to rely (which I feel that 
I cannot at all do) upon my own observation, I should 
tell you that there was more heartiness, and strength 
in the Greeks of the Ottoman Empire than in those of 
the new kingdom — the truth is, that there is a greater 
field for commercial enterprise, and even for Greek 



INFIDEL SMYRNA 



47 



ambitions under the Ottoman sceptre, than is to be 
found in the dominions of Otho. Indeed the people, 
by their frequent migrations from the limits of the con- 
stitutional kingdom, to the territories of the Porte, seem 
to shew, that, on the whole, they prefer " groaning under 
the Turkish yoke," to the honour of " being the only 
true source of legitimate power," in their own land. 

For myself, I love the race ; in spite of all their 
vices, and even in spite of all their meannesses, I re- 
member the blood that is in them, and still love the 
Greeks. The Osmanlees are, of course, by nature, by 
religion, and by politics, the strong foes of the Hellenic 
people, and as the Greeks, poor fellows ! happen to be 
a little deficient in some of the virtues which facilitate 
the transaction of commercial business, (such as vera- 
city, fidelity, &c.) it naturally follows that they are 
highly unpopular with the European merchants. Now, 
these are the persons through whom, either directly or 
indirectly, is derived the greater part of the informa- 
tion which you gather in the Levant, and therefore you 
must make up your mind to hear an almost universal, 
and unbroken testimony against the character of the 
people, whose ancestors invented Virtue. And strange 
to say, the Greeks themselves do not attempt to disturb 
this general unanimity of opinion by any dissent on 
their part. Question a Greek on the subject, and he 
will tell you at once that the people are " traditori," and 
will then, perhaps, endeavour to shake off his fair share 
of the imputation, by asserting that his father had been 
dragoman to some foreign embassy, and that he, (the 
son,) therefore, by the law of nations, had ceased to be 
Greek. 

" E dunque no siete traditore ? " 

" Possibile, Signor, ma almeno Io no sono Greco." 

Not even the diplomatic representatives of the 
Hellenic kingdom are free from the habit of depreciat- 
ing their brethren. I recollect, that at one of the ports 
in Syria, a Greek vessel was rather unfairly kept in 
quarantine by order of the Board of Health, which 



4 8 



EOTHEN 



consisted entirely of Europeans. A consular agent 
from the kingdom of Greece had lately hoisted his 
flag in the town, and the captain of the vessel drew up 
a remonstrance, which he requested his consul to 
present to the Board. 

"Now, is this reasonable?" said the consul, "is it 
reasonable that I should place myself in collision with 
all the principal European gentlemen of the place for 
the sake of you, a Greek ? " The skipper was greatly 
vexed at the failure of his application, but he scarcely 
even questioned the justice of the ground which his 
consul had taken. Well, it happened some time after- 
wards, that I found myself at the same port, having 
gone thither with the view of embarking for the port 
of Syra. I was anxious of course to elude as carefully 
as possible the quarantine detention which threatened 
me on my arrival, and hearing that the Greek consul 
had a brother who was a man in authority at Syra, I 
got myself presented to the former, and took the 
liberty of asking him to give me such a letter of introduc- 
tion to his relative at Syra, as might possibly have the 
effect of shortening the term of my quarantine ; he 
acceded to this request with the utmost kindness, and 
courtesy, but when he replied to my thanks by saying 
that " in serving an Englishman he was doing no more 
than his strict duty commanded," not even my gratitude 
could prevent me from calling to mind his treatment 
of the poor captain who had the misfortune of not being 
alien in blood to his consul, and appointed protector. 

I think that the change which has taken place in the 
character of the Greeks, has been occasioned, in great 
measure by the doctrines and practice of their religion. 
The Greek Church has animated the Muscovite peasant, 
and inspired him with hopes, and ideas, which however 
humble, are still better than none at all ; but the faith, 
and the forms, and the strange ecclesiastical literature 
which act so advantageously upon the mere clay of the 
Russian serf, seem to hang like lead upon the ethereal 
spirit of the Greek. Never, in any part of the world, 



INFIDEL SMYRNA 



49 



have I seen religious performances so painful to witness 
as those of the Greeks. The horror, however, with 
which one shudders at their worship, is attributable in 
some measure, to the mere effect of costume. In all 
the Ottoman dominions, and very frequently too, in the 
Kingdom of Otho, the Greeks wear turbans, or other 
head-dresses, and shave their heads, leaving only a 
rat's-tail at the crown of the head ; they of course keep 
themselves covered within doors, as well as abroad, 
and never remove their head-gear, merely on account 
of being in a church : but when the Greek stops to 
worship at his proper shrine, then, and then only, he 
always uncovers ; and as you see him thus with shaven 
skull, and savage tail depending from his crown, kissing 
a thing of wood, and glass, and cringing with base 
prostrations, and apparent terror before a miserable 
picture, you see superstition in a shape, which, out- 
wardly at least, looks sadly abject, and repulsive. 

# # # * # 

The fasts, too, of the Greek Church, produce an ill 
effect upon the character of the people, for they are 
| carried to such an extent, as to bring about a bona fide 
1 mortification of the flesh ; the febrile irritation of the 
I frame operating in conjunction with the depression of 
: the spirits occasioned by abstinence, will so far answer 
I the objects of the rite, as to engender some religious 
excitement, but this is of a morbid, and gloomy 
I character, and it seems to be certain, that along with 
I the increase of sanctity, there comes a fiercer desire 
j for the perpetration of dark crimes. The number of 
I murders committed during Lent, is greater, I am told, 
j than at any other time of the year. A man under the 
I influence of a bean dietary (for this is the principal 
I food of the Greeks during their fasts), will be in an apt 
; humour for enriching the shrine of his Saint, and pass- 
| ing a knife through his next door neighbour. The 
monies deposited upon the shrines are appropriated by 
priests ; the priests are married men, and have families 



EOTHEN 



to provide for; they "take the good with the bad," 
and continue to recommend fasts. 

Then too, the Greek Church enjoins her followers to 
keep holy such a vast number of Saints' days, as 
practically to shorten the lives of the people very 
materially. I believe that one third out of the number 
of days in the year are "kept holy," or rather, kept 
stupid, in honour of the Saints ; no great portion of 
the time thus set apart is spent in religious exercises, 
and the people don't betake themselves to any animat- 
ing pastimes, which might serve to strengthen the 
frame, or invigorate the mind, or exalt the taste. On 
the contrary, the Saints' days of the Greeks in Smyrna, 
are passed in the same manner as the Sabbaths of well- 
behaved Protestant housemaids in London — that is to 
say, in a steady, and serious contemplation of street 
scenery. The men perform this duty at the doors of 
their houses, — the women at the windows, which the 
custom of Greek towns has so decidedly appropriated 
to them as the proper station of their sex, that a man 
would be looked upon as utterly effeminate if he 
ventured to choose that situation for the keeping of the 
Saints' days. I was present one day at a treaty for 
the hire of some apartments at Smyrna, which was 
carried on between Carrigaholt, and the Greek woman 
to whom the rooms belonged. Carrigaholt objected 
that the windows commanded no view of the street : 
immediately the brow of the majestic matron was 
clouded, and with all the scorn of a Spartan mother 
she coolly asked Carrigaholt and said, "Art thou a 
tender damsel that thou wouldest sit, and gaze from 
windows ? " The man whom she addressed, however, 
had not gone to Greece with any intention of placing 
himself under the laws of Lycurgus, and was not to be 
diverted from his views by a Spartan rebuke, so he 
took care to find himself windows after his own heart, 
and there, I believe, for many a month, he kept the 
Saints' days, and all the days intervening, after the 
fashion of Grecian women. 



INFIDEL SMYRNA 



5i 



Oh ! let me be charitable to all who write, and to all 
who lecture, and to all who preach, since even I, a 
lay-man not forced to write at all, can hardly avoid 
chiming in with some tuneful cant ! I have had the heart 
to talk about the pernicious effects of the Greek holy- 
days, to which I owe some of my most beautiful visions ! 
I will let the words stand, as a humbling proof that I am 
subject to that immutable law which compels a man 
with a pen in his hand to be uttering every now and 
then some sentiment not his own. It seems as though 
the power of expressing regrets and desires by written 
symbols were coupled with a condition that the writer 
should from time to time express the regrets and 
desires of other people — as though, like a French 
peasant under the old regime, one were bound to 
perform a certain amount of work upon the public 
highways. I rebel as stoutly as I can against this 
horrible corvee— I try not to deceive you — I try to set 
down the thoughts which are fresh within me, and not 
to pretend any wishes, or griefs, which I do not really 
feel, but no sooner do I cease from watchfulness in this 
regard, than my right hand is as it were seized by 
some false demon, and even now, you see, I have been 
forced to put down such words, and sentences as I 
ought to have written, if really, and truly I had wished 
to disturb the Saints' days of the beautiful Smyrniotes ! 

Which, Heaven forbid ! for as you move through the 
narrow streets of the city, at these times of festival, the 
transom-shaped windows suspended over your head, on 
either side are filled with the beautiful descendants of 
the old Ionian race ; all (even yonder Empress that sits 
throned at the window of that humblest mud cottage,) 
are attired with seeming magnificence ; their classic 
heads are crowned with scarlet, and loaded with jewels, 
I or coins of gold — the whole wealth of the wearers ; l — 
their features are touched with a savage pencil, which 

1 A Greek woman wears her whole fortune upon her person, 
in the shape of jewels, or gold coins ; I believe that this mode of 



52 



EOTHEN 



hardens the outline of eyes, and eye-brows, and lends 
an unnatural fire to the stern, grave looks, with which 
they pierce your brain. Endure their fiery eyes as 
best you may, and ride on slowly, and reverently, for 
facing you from the side of the transom, that looks 
long-wise through the street, you see the one glorious 
shape transcendant in its beauty ; you see the massive 
braid of hair as it catches a touch of light on its jetty 
surface — and the broad, calm, angry brow — the large 
black eyes, deep set, and self-relying like the eyes of a 
conqueror, with their rich shadows of thought lying 
darkly around them, — you see the thin fiery nostril, 
and the bold line of the chin, and throat disclosing all 
the fierceness, and all the pride, passion, and power 
that can live along with the rare womanly beauty of 
those sweetly turned lips. But then there is a terrible 
stillness in this breathing image ; it seems like the 
stillness of a savage that sits intent, and brooding day 
by day, upon some one fearful scheme of vengeance, but 
yet more like it seems to the stillness of an Immortal, 
whose will must be known, and obeyed without sign, or 
speech. Bow down ! — Bow down, and adore the young 
Persephonie, transcendant Queen of Shades ! 

investment is adopted in great measure for safety's sake. It has 
the advantage of enabling a suitor to reckon, as well as to admire 
the objects of his affection. 



CHAPTER VI 



GREEK MARINERS 

I SAILED from Smyrna in the Amphitrite, a Greek 
brigantine, which was confidently said to be bound 
for the coast of Syria, but I knew that this announce- 
ment was not to be relied upon with positive certainty, 
for the Greek mariners are practically free from the 
stringency of ship's papers, and where they will, there 
they go. However, I had the whole of the cabin to 
myself, and my attendant Mysseri, subject only to the 
society of the Captain at the hour of dinner ; being at 
ease in this respect, being furnished too with plenty of 
books, and rinding an unfailing source of interest in 
the thorough Greekness of my Captain and my crew, 
I felt less anxious than most people would have been 
about the probable length of the cruise ; I knew enough 
of Greek navigation to be sure that our vessel would 
cling to Earth like a child to its mother's knee, and that 
I should touch at many an isle before I set foot upon 
the Syrian coast ; but I had no invidious preference 
for Europe, Asia, or Africa, and I felt that I could 
defy the winds to blow me upon a coast that was 
blank, and void of interest. My. patience was ex- 
tremely useful to me, for the cruise altogether endured 
some forty days, and that in the midst of winter. 

According to me, the most interesting of all the 
Greeks (male Greeks) are the Mariners, because their 
pursuits, and their social condition are so nearly the 
same, as those of their glorious ancestors ; you will 
say, that the occupation of commerce, must have 



54 



EOTHEN 



smoothed down the salience of their minds ; and this 
would be so perhaps, if their mercantile affairs were 
conducted according to the fixed business-like routine 
of Europeans ; but the ventures of the Greeks are sur- 
rounded by such a multitude of imagined dangers, (and 
from the absence of regular marts, in which the true 
value of merchandise can be ascertained) are so entirely 
speculative, and besides are conducted in a manner, so 
wholly determined upon by the wayward fancies, and 
wishes of the crew, that they belong to Enterprize, 
rather than to Industry, and are very far indeed from 
tending to deaden any freshness of character. 

The vessels in which war, and piracy were carried 
on during the years of the Greek Revolution, became 
merchant men at the end of the war — but the tactics 
of the Greeks, as naval warriors were so exceedingly 
cautious, and their habits as commercial mariners, are 
so wild, that the change has been more slight than you 
might imagine. The first care of Greeks (Greek 
Rayahs) when they undertake a shipping enterprize, 
is to procure for their vessel the protection of some 
European power ; this is easily managed by a little 
intriguing with the Dragoman of one of the Embassies 
at Constantinople, and the craft soon glories in the 
ensign of Russia, or the dazzling Tricolour, or the 
Union Jack ; thus, to the great delight of her crew, 
she enters upon the ocean world with a flaring lie at 
her peak, but the appearance of the vessel does no 
discredit to the borrowed flag ; she is frailer perhaps 
than the rest of her sex, but she does not look the 
worse for this in harbour ; she is gracefully built, and 
smartly rigged ; she always carries guns, and in short 
gives good promise of mischief, and speed. 

The privileges attached to the vessel and her crew, 
by virtue of the borrowed flag are so great as to imply 
a degree of liberty, greater than that which is enjoyed 
by individuals in our more strictly civilized countries, 
so that there is no pretence for saying that the develop- 
ment of the true character belonging to Greek mariners, 



GREEK MARINERS 



55 



is prevented by the dominion of the Ottomans ; they 
are free too from the power of the great Capitalist 
whose imperial sway is more withering than despotism 
itself, to the enterprizes of humble venturers. The 
capital employed is supplied by those whose labour is 
to render it productive ; the crew receive no wages, 
but have all a share in the venture, and in general, I 
believe, they are the owners of the whole freight ; they 
choose a Captain to whom they entrust just power 
enough to keep the vessel on her course in fine weather, 
but not quite enough for a gale of wind ; they also 
elect a cook, and a mate ; the cook whom we had on 
board was particularly careful about the ship's reckon- 
ing, and when under the influence of the keen sea 
breezes, we grew fondly expectant of an instant dinner, 
the great author of pilafs would be standing on deck 
with an ancient quadrant in his hands, calmly affect- 
ing to take an observation. But then to make up for 
this the Captain would be exercising a controlling 
influence over the soup, so that all in the end went 
well. Our mate was a Hydriot, a native of that island 
rock which grows nothing but mariners, and mariners' 
wives. His character seemed to be exactly that which 
is generally attributed to the Hydriot race ; he was 
fierce, and gloomy, and lonely in his ways. One of 
his principal duties seemed to be that of acting as 
counter-captain, or leader of the opposition, denouncing 
the first symptoms of tyranny, and protecting even the 
cabin boy from oppression. — Besides this, when things 
went smoothly, he would begin to prognosticate evil, in 
order that his more light-hearted comrades might not 
be puffed up with the seeming good fortune of the 
moment. 

It seemed to me that the personal freedom of these 
sailors, who own no superiors except those of their own 
choice, is as like as may be to that of their sea-faring 
ancestors. And even in their mode of navigation they 
have admitted no such an entire change as you would 
suppose probable ; it is true that they have so far 



56 



EOTHEN 



availed themselves of modern discoveries as to look to 
the compass instead of the stars, and that they have 
superseded the immortal Gods of their forefathers by 
St. Nicholas in his glass case, 1 but they are not yet so 
confident either in their needle, or their Saint, as to love 
an open sea, and they still hug their shores as fondly as 
the Argonauts of old. Indeed they have a most un- 
sailor-like love for the land, and I really believe that in 
a gale of wind they would rather have a rock-bound 
coast on their lee, than no coast at all. According to 
the notions of an English seaman this kind of naviga- 
tion would soon bring the vessel on which it might be 
practised to an evil end. The Greek however is un- 
accountably successful in escaping the consequences of 
being " jammed in," as it is called, upon a lee shore ; 
he is favoured, I suppose, by the nature of the coasts 
along which he sails, especially those of the many 
islands through which he threads his way in the ^Egean, 
for there is generally, I think, deep water home to the 
very cliffs, and besides there are innumerable coves in 
which the dexterous sailor, who knows, and loves the 
land so well, will contrive to find a shelter. 

These seamen like their forefathers rely upon no 
winds unless they are right a-stern, or on the quarter ; 
they rarely go on a wind if it blows at all fresh, and if 
the adverse breeze approaches to a gale, they at once 
fumigate St. Nicholas, and put up the helm. The con- 
sequence of course is that under the ever-varying 
winds of the yEgean they are blown about in the most 
whimsical manner. I used to think that Ulysses with 
his ten years' voyage had taken his time in making 
Ithaca, but my experience in Greek navigation soon 
made me understand that he had had, in point of fact, 
a pretty good " average passage." 

Such are now the mariners of the ^Egean ; free, 

1 St. Nicholas is the great patron of Greek sailors ; a small 
picture of him enclosed in a glass case is hung up like a baro- 
meter at one end of the cabin. 



GREEK MARINERS 



57 



equal amongst themselves, navigating the seas of their 
forefathers with the same heroic, and yet child-like spirit 
of venture, the same half-trustful reliance upon heavenly 
aid, they are the liveliest images of true old Greeks that 
time, and the new religions have spared to us. 

With one exception, our crew were " a solemn com- 
pany," 1 and yet, sometimes, when all things went well, 
they would relax their austerity, and shew a disposition 
to fun, or rather to quiet humour ; when this happened, 
they invariably had recourse to one of their number, 
who went by the name of "Admiral Nicolou;" he was 
an amusing fellow, the poorest, I believe, and the least 
thoughtful of the crew, but full of rich humour ; his 
oft-told story of the events by which he had gained the 
sobriquet of "Admiral," never failed to delight his 
hearers, and when he was desired to repeat it for my 
benefit, the rest of the crew crowded round with as 
much interest as if they were listening to the tale for the 
first time. A number of Greek brigs and brigantines 
were at anchor in the bay of Beyrout ; a festival of some 
kind, particularly attractive to the sailors, was going on 
in the town, and whether with, or without leave I know 
not, but the crews of all the craft, except that of Nicolou, 
had gone ashore ; on board his vessel, however, which 
carried dollars, there was, it would seem, a more care- 
ful, or more influential Captain, who was able to enforce 
his determination, that one man, at least, should be left 
on board, Nicolou's good nature was with him so 
powerful an impulse, that he could not resist the delight 
of volunteering to stay with the vessel, whilst his com- 
rades went ashore ; his proposal was accepted, and the 
crew and Captain soon left him alone on the deck of 
his vessel. The sailors, gathering together from their 
several ships, were amusing themselves in the town, 
when suddenly there came down from betwixt the 
mountains, one of those sudden hurricanes which 
sometimes occur in southern climes ; Nicolou's vessel, 



1 Hanmer. 



58 



EOTHEN 



together with four of the craft which had been left un- 
manned, broke from her moorings, and all five of the 
vessels were carried out seaward ; the town is on a 
salient point at the southern side of the Bay, so that 
" the Admiral" was close under the eyes of the inhabit- 
ants, and the shore-gone sailors, when he gallantly 
drifted out at the head of his little fleet ; if Nicolou 
could not entirely controul the manoeuvres of the 
Squadron, there was at least no human power to divide 
his authority, and thus it was that he took rank as 
"Admiral." Nicolou cut his cable, and thus for the 
time saved his vessel ; for the rest of the fleet, under 
his command, were quickly wrecked, whilst " the Ad- 
miral" got away clear to the open sea. The violence 
of the squall soon passed off, but Nicolou felt that his 
chance of one day resigning his high duties as an ad- 
miral for the enjoyments of private life on the stedfast 
shore, mainly depended upon his success in working 
the brig with his own hands, so after calling on his 
namesake, the saint, (not for the first time, I take it) 
he got up some canvass, and took the helm ; he became 
equal, he told us, to a score of Nicolous, and the vessel, 
as he said, was " manned with his terrors." For two 
days, it seems, he cruised at large, but at last, either 
by his seamanship, or by the natural instinct of the 
Greek mariners for finding land, he brought his craft 
close to an unknown shore, which promised well for 
his purpose of running in the vessel, and he was pre- 
paring to give her a good berth on the beach, when he 
saw a gang of ferocious looking fellows coming down 
to the point for which he was making. Poor Nicolou 
was a perfectly unlettered, and untutored genius, and 
for that reason, perhaps, a keen listener to tales of 
terror ; his mind had been impressed with some hor- 
rible legend of cannibalism, and he now did not doubt 
for a moment that the men awaiting him on the beach 
were the monsters at whom he had shuddered in the 
days of his childhood. The coast on which Nicolou 
was running his vessel was somewhere, I fancy, at the 



GREEK MARINERS 



59 



foot of the Anzairie mountains, and the fellows who 
were preparing to give him a reception were probably 
very rough specimens of humanity ; it is likely enough 
that they may have given themselves the trouble of 
putting "the Admiral" to death, for the purpose of 
simplifying their claim to the vessel, and preventing 
litigation, but the notion of their cannibalism, was of 
course utterly unfounded ; Nicolou's terror had, how- 
ever, so graven the idea on his mind, that he could 
never afterwards dismiss it. Having once determined 
the character of his expectant hosts, the Admiral 
naturally thought that it would be better to keep their 
dinner waiting any length of time, than to attend their 
feast in the character of a roasted Greek, so he put 
about his vessel, and tempted the deep once more. 
After a farther cruise the lonely commander ran his 
vessel upon some rocks at another part of the coast, 
where she was lost with all her treasures, and Nicolou 
was but too glad to scramble ashore, though without 
one dollar in his girdle. These adventures seem flat 
enough as I repeat them, but the hero expressed his 
terrors by such odd terms of speech, and such strangely 
humorous gestures, that the story came from his lips 
with an unfailing zest, so that the crew who had heard 
the tale so often, could still enjoy to their hearts the 
rich fright of the Admiral, and still shuddered with un- 
abated horror when he came to the loss of the dollars. 

The power of listening to long stories (for which by 
the bye I am giving you large credit,) is common I 
fancy to most sailors, and the Greeks have it to a great 
degree, for they can be perfectly patient under a narra- 
tive of two or three hours' duration. These long stories 
are mostly founded upon Oriental topics, and in one of 
them I recognized with some alterations an old friend 
of the "Arabian Nights I inquired as to the source 
from which the story had been derived, and the crew 
all agreed that it had been handed down unwritten 
from Greek to Greek ; their account of the matter does 
not, perhaps, go very far towards shewing the real 



6o 



EOTHEN 



origin of the tale, but when I afterwards took up the 
"Arabian Nights," I became strongly impressed with 
a notion that they must have sprung from the brain of 
a Greek. It seems to me that these stories whilst they 
disclose a complete, and habitual knowledge of things 
Asiatic, have about them so much of freshness and life, 
so much of the stirring, and volatile European character, 
that they cannot have owed their conception to a mere 
Oriental, who, for creative purposes, is a thing dead 
and dry — a mental mummy that may have been a live 
King just after the flood, but has since lain balmed in 
spice. At the time of the Caliphat the Greek race was 
familiar enough to Bagdad ; they were the merchants, 
the pedlars, the barbers, and intriguers-general of South- 
western Asia, and therefore the Oriental materials with 
which the Arabian tales are wrought, must have been 
completely at the command of the inventive people to 
whom I would attribute their origin. 

We were nearing the isle of Cyprus, when there 
arose half a gale of wind, with a heavy, chopping sea ; 
my Greek seamen considered that the weather amounted 
not to a half, but to an integral gale of wind at the very 
least, so they put up the helm, and scudded for twenty 
hours ; when we neared the main land of Anadoli, the 
gale ceased, and a favourable breeze sprung up, which 
brought us off Cyprus once more. Afterwards the 
wind changed again, but we were still able to lay our 
course by sailing close-hauled. 

We were, at length, in such a position, that by hold- 
ing on our course for about half an hour, we should get 
under the lee of the island, and find ourselves in smooth 
water, but the wind had been gradually freshening; it 
now blew hard, and there was a heavy sea running. 

As the grounds for alarm arose, the crew gathered 
together in one close group ; they stood pale, and grim 
under their hooded capotes like monks awaiting a 
massacre, anxiously looking by turns along the path- 
way of the storm, and then upon each other, and then 
upon the eye of the Captain who stood by the helms- 



GREEK MARINERS 



61 



man. Presently the Hydriot came aft, more moody 
than ever, the bearer of fierce remonstrance against 
the continuing of the struggle ; he received a resolute 
answer, and still we held our course. Soon there came 
a heavy sea, that caught the bow of the brigantine as 
she lay jammed in betwixt the waves ; she bowed her 
head low under the waters, and shuddered through all 
her timbers — then gallantly stood up again over the 
striving sea, with bowsprit entire. But where were 
the crew? — It was a crew no longer, but rather a 
gathering of Greek citizens ; — the shout of the seamen 
was changed for the murmuring of the people — the 
spirit of the old Demos was alive. The men came aft 
in a body, and loudly asked that the vessel should be 
put about, and that the storm should be no longer 
tempted. Now, then, for speeches : — the Captain, his 
eyes flashing fire, his frame all quivering with emotion 
— wielding his every limb, like another, and a louder 
voice, pours forth the eloquent torrent of his threats, 
and his reasons, his commands, and his prayers ; he 
promises — he vows — he swears that there is safety in 
holding on — safety, if Greeks will be brave I The men 
hear, and are moved, but the gale rouses itself once 
more, and again the raging sea comes trampling over 
the timbers that are the life of all. The fierce Hydriot 
advances one step more near to the Captain, and the 
angry growl of the people goes floating down the wind, 
but they listen — they waver once more, and once more 
resolve, then waver again, thus doubtfully hanging 
between the terrors of the storm, and the persuasion of 
[glorious speech, as though it were the Athenian that 
| talked, and Philip of Macedon that thundered on the 
weather bow. 

Brave thoughts winged on Grecian words gained 
their natural mastery over Terror; the Brigantine held 
on her course, and reached smooth water at last. I 
landed at Limesol, the westernmost port of Cyprus, 
leaving the vessel to sail for Larnecca, where she was 
to remain for some days. 



CHAPTER VII 



CYPRUS 

THERE was a Greek at Limesol, who hoisted his 
flag as an English Vice-Consul, and he insisted 
upon my accepting his hospitality ; with some difficulty, 
and chiefly by assuring him that I could not delay my 
departure beyond an early hour in the afternoon, I in- 
duced him to allow my dining with his family, instead 
of banqueting all alone with the representative of my 
sovereign, in consular state and dignity ; the lady of 
the house, it seemed, had never sat at a table with an 
European ; she was very shy about the matter, and 
tried hard to get out of the scrape, but the husband, I 
fancy, reminded her, that she was theoretically an 
English-woman by virtue of the flag which waved over 
her roof, and that she was bound to shew her nationality 
by sitting at meat with me ; finding herself inexorably 
condemned to bear with the dreaded gaze of European 
eyes, she tried to save her innocent children from the 
hard fate which awaited herself, but I obtained that all 
of them (and I think there were four or five) should sit 
at the table. You will meet with abundance of stately 
receptions, and of generous hospitality too in the East, 
but rarely, very rarely in those regions, (or even, so far 
as I know, in any part of southern Europe) does one 
gain an opportunity of seeing the familiar, and indoor 
life of the people. 

This family party of the good consul's (or rather of 
mine, for I originated the idea, though he furnished the 
materials) went off very well ; the mamma was shy at 



CYPRUS 



63 



first, but she veiled the awkwardness which she felt by 
affecting to scold her children, who had all of them, I 
think, immortal names — names too which they owed to 
tradition, and certainly not to any classical enthusiasm 
of their parents ; every instant I was delighted by 
some such phrases as these — " Themistocles, my love, 
don't fight."— " Alcibiades, can ; t you sit still?"— " So- 
crates, put down the cup." — " Oh, fie ! Aspasia, don't, 
Oh! don't be naughty!" It is true that the names 
were pronounced, Socrahtie, Aspahsie — that is, accord- 
ing to accent, and not according to quantity, but I 
suppose it is scarcely now to be doubted that they were 
so sounded in ancient times. 

To me, it seems, that of all the lands I know, (you 
will see in a minute how I connect this piece of prose 
with the Isle of Cyprus,) there is none in which mere 
wealth — mere unaided wealth, is held half so cheaply 
i — none in which a poor devil of a millionaire without 
birth, or ability occupies so humble a place as in Eng- 
: land. My Greek host, and I were sitting together, I think 
< upon the roof of the house, (for that is the lounging 
place in Eastern climes,) when the former assumed a 
serious air, and intimated a wish to converse upon the 
subject of the British Constitution, with which he 
assured me that he was thoroughly acquainted ; he 
presently, however, informed me that there was one 
anomalous circumstance attendant upon the practical 
working of our political system which he had never 
been able to hear explained in a manner satisfactory to 
himself. From the fact of his having found a difficulty 
in his subject, I began to think that my host might 
really know rather more of it than his announcement of 
a thorough knowledge had led me to expect ; I felt 
interested at being about to hear from the lips of an 
intelligent Greek, quite remote from the influence of 
European opinions, what might seem to him the most 
astonishing, and incomprehensible of all those results 
which have followed from the action of our political 
institutions. The anomaly— the only anomaly which 



6 4 



EOTHEN 



had been detected by the vice-consular wisdom, con- 
sisted in the fact, that Rothschild, (the late money- 
monger,) had never been the Prime Minister of England ! 
I gravely tried to throw some light upon the mysterious 
causes which had kept the worthy Israelite out of the 
Cabinet, but I think I could see that my explanation 
was not satisfactory. Go and argue with the flies of 
summer, that there is a Power divine, yet greater than 
the Sun in the heavens, but never dare hope to con- 
vince the people of the South that there is any other 
God than Gold. 

My intended journey was to the site of the Paphian 
temple. I take no antiquarian interest in ruins, and 
care little about them, unless they are either striking 
in themselves, or else serve to mark some spot on 
which my fancy loves to dwell. I knew that the ruins 
of Paphos were scarcely, if at all discernible, but there 
was a will, and a longing, more imperious than mere 
curiosity, that drove me thither. 

For this just then was my Pagan soul's desire — that 
(not forfeiting my Christian's inheritance for the life to 
come,) it were yet given me to live through this world 
— to live a favoured mortal under the old Olympian 
dispensation — to speak out my resolves to the listening 
Jove, and hear him answer with approving thunder — 
to be blessed with divine counsels from the lips of 
Pallas Athenie — to believe — aye, only to believe — to 
believe for one rapturous moment that in the gloomy 
depths of the grove, by the mountain's side, there were 
some leafy pathway that crisped beneath the glowing 
sandal of Aphrodetie — Aphrodetie, not coldly disdainful 
of even a mortal's love ! And this vain, heathenish 
longing of mine was father to the thought of visiting 
the scene of the ancient worship. 

The isle is beautiful ; from the edge of the rich, 
flowery fields on which I trod, to the midway sides of 
the snowy Olympus, the ground could only here, and 
there show an abrupt crag, or a high, straggling ridge, 
that up-shouldered itself from out of the wilderness of 



[Hi ' 

CYPRUS 65 

myrtles, and of the thousand bright-leaved shrubs that 
twined their arms together in lovesome tangles. The 
air that came to my lips was warm, and fragrant as the 
ambrosial breath of the goddess, infecting me — not, (of 
course,) with a faith in the old religion of the isle, but 
with a sense, and apprehension of its mystic power — 
a power that was still to be obeyed — obeyed by me, for 
why otherwise did I toil on with sorry horses to " where, 
for HER, the hundred altars glowed with Arabian 
incense, and breathed with the fragrance of garlands 
ever fresh P" 1 

I passed a sadly disenchanting night in the cabin of 
a Greek priest — not a priest of the Goddess, but of 
the Greek church — there was but one humble room, or 
rather shed, for man, and priest, and beast. The next 
morning I reached Baffa (Paphos), which is not far 
distant from the site of the temple ; there was a Greek 
husbandman there who (not for emolument, but for the 
sake of the protection, and dignity which it afforded) 
had got leave from the man at Limesol to hoist his 
flag as a sort of D eputy- pro visionary -sub- vice- pro - 
acting Pro-consul of the British Sovereign ; the poor 
fellow instantly changed his Greek head-gear for the 
cap of consular dignity, and insisted upon accompany- 
ing me to the ruins ; I would not have stood this, if I 
could have felt the faintest gleam of my yesterday's 
pagan piety, but I had ceased to dream, and had 
nothing to dread from any new disenchanters. 

The ruins (the fragments of one or two prostrate 
pillars) stand upon a promontory, bare, and unmystified 
by the gloom of surrounding groves ; my Greek friend 
in his consular cap stood by, respectfully waiting to see 
what turn my madness would take, now that I had 
come at last into the presence of the old stones. If 
you have no taste for research, and can't affect to look 
for inscriptions, there is some awkwardness in coming 

1 ... ubi templum illi, centumque Sabaso 
Thure calent aree, sertisque recentibus halant. 

^Eneid i. 415. 



\ 

66 EOTHEN 

to the end of a merely sentimental pilgrimage, when 
the feeling, which impelled you, has gone ; you have 
nothing to do but to laugh the thing off as well as you 
can, and, by the by, it is not a bad plan to turn the 
conversation (or rather allow the natives to turn it) 
towards the subject of hidden treasures ; this is a topic 
on which they will always speak with eagerness, and if 
they can fancy that you, too, take an interest in such 
matters, they will not only think you perfectly sane, 
but will begin to give you credit for some more than 
human powers of forcing the obscure earth to shew you 
its hoards of gold. 

When we returned to J3afTa, the Pro-consul seized a 
club, with the quietly determined air of a brave man, 
resolved to do some deed of note ; he went into the 
yard adjoining his cottage, where there were some thin, 
thoughtful, canting cocks, and serious, low-church- 
looking hens, respectfully listening, and chickens of 
tender years so well brought up, as scarcely to betray 
in their conduct, the careless levity of youth. The 
Pro-consul stood for a moment quite calm — collecting 
his strength ; then suddenly he rushed into the midst 
of the congregation, and began to deal death, and 
destruction on all sides ; he spared neither sex, nor 
age ; the dead and dying were immediately removed 
from the field of slaughter, and in less than an hour, I 
think, they were brought to the table, deeply buried in 
mounds of snowy rice. 

My host was in all respects a fine, generous fellow ; 
I could not bear the idea of impoverishing him by my 
visit, and I consulted my faithful Mysseri, who not 
only assured me that I might safely offer money to the 
Pro-consul, but recommended that I should give no 
more to him, than to " the others," meaning any other 
peasant ; I felt, however, that there was something 
about the man, besides the flag, and the cap, which 
made me shrink from offering coin, and as I mounted 
my horse on departing, I gave him the only thing fit 
for a present which I happened to have with me, a 



CYPRUS 



67 



rather handsome clasp-dagger, which I had brought 
from Vienna ; the poor fellow was ineffably grateful, 
and I had some difficulty in tearing myself from out of 
the reach of his thanks ; at last I gave him what I 
supposed to be the last farewell, and rode on, but I had 
not gained more than about a hundred yards, when my 
host came bounding and shouting after me, with a 
goafs milk cheese in his hand which he implored me 
to accept In old times the shepherd of Theocritus, 
or, (or to speak less dishonestly,) the shepherd of the 
" Poetas Grseci," sung his best song ; I in this latter 
age presented my best dagger, and both of us received 
the same rustic reward. 

It had been known that I should return to Limesol, 
and when I arrived there, I found that a noble old 
Greek had been hospitably plotting to have me for his 
guest ; I willingly accepted his offer. The day of my 
arrival happened to be the birthday of my host, and 
in consequence of this there was a constant influx of 
visitors who came to offer their congratulations ; a 
few of these were men, but most of them were young, 
graceful girls ; almost all of them went through the 
ceremony with the utmost precision, and formality ; 
each in succession spoke her blessing, in the tone of 
a person repeating a set formula, — then deferentially 
accepted the invitation to sit — partook of the proffered 
sweetmeats, and the cold, glittering water, — remained 
for a few minutes either in silence, or engaged in very 
thin conversation, — then arose, delivered a second 
benediction followed by an elaborate farewell, and 
departed. 

The bewitching power attributed at this day to the 
women of Cyprus, is curious in connection with the 
worship of the sweet goddess who called their isle her 
own ; the Cypriote is not, I think, nearly so beautiful 
in face as the Ionian queens of Izmir, but she is tall, 
and slightly formed — there is a high-souled meaning 
and expression — a seeming consciousness of gentle em- 
pire that speaks in the wavy lines of the shoulder, and 



68 



EOTHEN 



winds itself like Cytherea's own cestus around the 
slender waist — then the richly abounding hair (not 
enviously gathered together under the head-dress) 
descends the neck, and passes the waist in sumptuous 
braids ; of all other women with Grecian blood in 
their veins, the costume is graciously beautiful, but 
these, the maidens of Limesol — their robes are more 
gently, more sweetly imagined, and fall like Julia's 
Cashmere in soft, luxurious folds. The common voice 
of the Levant allows that in face the women of Cyprus 
are less beautiful than their brilliant sisters of Smyrna, 
and yet, says the Greek, he may trust himself to one 
and all of the bright cities of the ALgean, and may yet 
weigh anchor with a heart entire, but that so surely as 
he ventures upon the enchanted Isle of Cyprus, so 
surely will he know the rapture, or the bitterness of 
Love. The charm, they say, owes its power to 
that which the people call the astonishing " politics " 
(TroXirtKn) of the women, meaning, I fancy, their tact, 
and their witching ways ; the word, however, plainly 
fails to express one half of that which the speakers 
would say ; I have smiled to hear the Greek, with all 
his plenteousness of fancy, and all the wealth of his 
generous language, yet vainly struggling to describe 
the ineffable spell which the Parisians dispose of in 
their own smart way, by a summary "Je ne scai 
quoi." 

I went to Larnecca, the chief city of the isle, and 
over the water at last to Beyrout. 

%* The writer takes leave to suggest that none should 
attempt to read the following account of the late Lady 
Hester Stanhope, except those who may already chance to 
feel an interest in the personage to whom it relates. The 
chapter (which has been written, and printed for the reasons 
mentioned in the preface) is chiefly filled with the detailed 
conversation, or rather discourse of a highly eccentric gentle- 
woman. 



CHAPTER VIII 



LADY HESTER STANHOPE 

"OEYROUT on its land side is hemmed in by the 
JD Druses, who occupy all the neighbouring highlands. 

Often enough I saw the ghostly images of the women 
with their exalted horns stalking through the streets, 
and I saw too in travelling the affrighted groups of 
the mountaineers as they fled before me, under the fear 
that my party might be a company of Income-tax 
commissioners, or a press-gang enforcing the conscrip- 
tion for Mehemet Ali, but nearly all my knowledge of 
the people, except in regard of their mere costume, 
and outward appearance, is drawn from books, and 
despatches, to which I have the honour to refer you. 

I received hospitable welcome at Beyrout, from the 
Europeans, as well as from the Syrian Christians, and 
I soon discovered that their standing topic of interest 
was the Lady Hester Stanhope, who lived in an old 
convent on the Lebanon range, at the distance of 
about a day's journey from the town. The Lady's 
habit of refusing to see Europeans added the charm 
of mystery to a character, which, even without that aid, 
was sufficiently distinguished to command attention. 

Many years of Lady Hester's early womanhood had 
been passed with Lady Chatham at Burton Pynsent, 
and during that inglorious period of the heroine's life, 
her commanding character, and (as they would have 
called it, in the language of those days,) her ^con- 
descending kindness" towards my mother's family, 
had increased in them those strong feelings of respect, 



70 



EOTHEN 



and attachment, which her rank, and station alone 
would have easily won from people of the middle class. 
You may suppose how deeply the quiet women in 
Somersetshire must have been interested, when they 
slowly learned by vague, and uncertain tidings that 
the intrepid girl who had been used to break their 
vicious horses for them, was reigning in sovereignty 
over the wandering tribes of Western Asia ! I know 
that her name was made almost as familiar to me in 
my childhood as the name of Robinson Crusoe ; both 
were associated with the spirit of adventure, but whilst 
the imagined life of the cast-away manner never failed 
to seem glaringly real, the true story of the English- 
woman ruling over Arabs always sounded to me like 
fable. I never had heard, nor indeed, I believe, had 
the rest of the world ever heard anything like a certain 
account of the Heroine's adventures ; all I knew was, 
that in one of the drawers which were the delight of 
my childhood, along with attar of roses, and fragrant 
wonders from Hindostan, there were letters carefully 
treasured, and trifling presents which I was taught to 
think valuable because they had come from the Queen 
of the Desert, who dwelt in tents, and reigned over 
wandering Arabs. 

The subject, however, died away, and from the end- 
ing of my childhood up to the period of my arrival in 
the Levant, I had seldom even heard a mentioning of 
the Lady Hester Stanhope, but now wherever I went, 
I was met with the name so familiar in sound, and yet 
so full of mystery from the vague, fairy-tale sort of 
idea which it brought to my mind ; I heard it too con- 
nected with fresh wonders, for it was said that the 
woman was now acknowledged as an inspired being by 
the people of the Mountains, and it was even hinted 
with horror that she claimed to be more than a prophet. 

I felt at once that my mother would be sadly sorry 
to hear that I had been w i thin a day's ride of her early 
friend without offering to see her, and I therefore des- 
patched a letter to the Recluse, mentioning the maiden 



LADY HESTER STANHOPE 71 



name of my mother (whose marriage was subsequent 
to Lady Hester's departure) and saying that if there 
existed on the part of her Ladyship any wish to hear of 
her old Somersetshire acquaintance, I should make a 
point of visiting her. My letter was sent by a foot 
messenger who was to take an unlimited time for his 
journey, so that it was not, I think, until either the 
third or the fourth day that the answer arrived. A 
couple of horsemen covered with mud suddenly dashed 
into the little court of the " Locanda, ,? in which I was 
staying, bearing themselves as ostentatiously, as though 
they were carrying a cartel from the Devil to the Angel 
Michael ; one of these (the other being his attendant) 
was an Italian by birth, (though now completely 
orientalized) who lived in my Lady's establishment as 
a Doctor nominally, but practically as an upper servant ; 
he presented me a very kind, and appropriate letter of 
invitation. 

It happened that I was rather unwell at this time, so 
that I named a more distant day for my visit than I 
should otherwise have done, and after all, I did not 
start at the time fixed ; whilst still remaining at Beyrout 
I received this letter, which certainly betrays no 
symptom of the pretensions to Divine power, which 
were popularly attributed to the writer : — 

" Sir, — I hope I shall be disappointed in seeing you on 
Wednesday, for the late rains have rendered the river Damoor 
if not dangerous, at least very unpleasant to pass for a person 
who has been lately indisposed, for if the animal swims, you 
would be immerged in the waters. The weather will prob- 
ably change after the 21st of the moon, and after a couple of 
days the roads, and the river will be passable, therefore I 
shall expect you either Saturday or Monday. 

'* It will be a great satisfaction to me to have an oppor- 
tunity of inquiring after your mother, who was a sweet, lovely 
girl when I knew her. 

"Believe me, Sir, 
" Yours sincerely, 

" Hester Lucy Stanhope." 



EOTHEN 



Early one morning I started from Beyrout. There 
are no regularly established relays of horses in Syria, 
at least not in the line which I took, and you therefore 
hire your cattle for the whole journey, or at all events 
for your journey to some large town. Under these 
circumstances you have no occasion for a Tatar, 
(whose principal utility consists in his power to compel 
the supply of horses.) In other respects the mode of 
travelling through Syria differs very little from that 
which I have described as prevailing in Turkey. I 
hired my horses, and mules (for I had some of both) 
for the whole of the journey from Beyrout to Jeru- 
salem ; the owner of the beasts (who had a couple of 
fellows under him) was the most dignified member of 
my party ; he was, indeed, *a magnificent old man, and 
was called Shereef, or " holy," — a title of honour, which, 
with the privilege of bearing the green turban, he well 
deserved, not only from the blood of the Prophet which 
glowed in his veins, but from the well-known sanctity 
of his life, and the length of his blessed beard. 

Mysseri, of course, still travelled with me, but the 
Arabic was not one of the seven languages which he 
spoke so perfectly, and I was, therefore, obliged to hire 
another interpreter. I had no difficulty in finding a 
proper man for the purpose — one Demetrius, — or as 
he was always called, Dthemetri, a native of Zante, 
who had been tossed about by fortune in all directions. 
He spoke the Arabic very well, and communicated 
with me in Italian. The man was a very zealous mem- 
ber of the Greek church. He had been a tailor. He 
was as ugly as the devil, having a thoroughly Tatar 
countenance, which expressed the agony of his body, 
or mind as the case might be, in the most ludicrous 
manner imaginable ; he embellished the natural cari- 
cature of his person, by suspending about his neck, 
and shoulders, and waist, quantities of little bundles, 
and parcels, which he thought too valuable to be en- 
trusted to the jerking of pack-saddles. The mule which 
fell to his lot on this journey, every now and then, for- 



LADY HESTER STANHOPE 73 



getting that his rider was a saint, and remembering 
that he was a tailor, took a quiet roll upon the ground, 
and stretched his limbs calmly, and lazily, as if he were 
preparing to hear a long sermon. Dthemetri never 
got seriously hurt, but the subversion, and dislocation 
of his bundles, made him for the moment a sad spec- 
tacle of ruin, and when he regained his legs, his wrath 
with the mule became very amusing. He always ad- 
dressed the beast in language which implied, that he, 
as a Christian and saint, had been personally insulted 
and oppressed by a Mahometan mule. Dthemetri, 
however, on the whole, proved to be a most able, and 
capital servant ; I suspected him of now and then lead- 
ing me out of my way, in order that he might have an 
opportunity of visiting the shrine of a saint, and on one 
occasion, as you will see by and by, he was induced, 
by religious motives, to commit a gross breach of duty ; 
but putting these pious faults out of the question, (and 
they were faults of the right side,) he was always faith- 
ful, and true to me. 

I left Saide (the Sidon of ancient times,) on my right, 
and about an hour, I think, before sunset, began to 
ascend one of the many low hills of Lebanon. On the 
summit before me, was a broad, grey mass of irregular 
building, which from its position, as well as from the 
gloomy blankness of its walls, gave the idea of a 
neglected fortress ; it had, in fact, been a convent of 
great size, and like most of the religious houses in this 
part of the world, had been made strong enough for 
opposing an inert resistance to any mere casual band 
of assailants who might be unprovided with regular 
means of attack ; this was the dwelling-place of the 
Chatham's fiery grand-daughter. 

The aspect of the first court which I entered was 
such as to keep one in the idea of having to do with a 
fortress, rather than a mere peaceable dwelling-place. 
A number of fierce-looking, and ill- clad Albanian sol- 
diers were hanging about the place, and striving to bear 
the curse of Tranquillity, as well as they could ; two or 



74 



EOTHEN 



three of them, I think, were smoking their tchibouques, 
but the rest of them were lying torpidly upon the flat 
stones, like the bodies of departed brigands. I rode 
on to an inner part of the building, and at last, quitting 
my horses, was conducted through a door-way which 
led me at once from an open court into an apartment 
on the ground floor. As I entered, an oriental figure 
in male costume approached me from the farther end 
of the room with many, and profound bows, but the 
growing shades of evening, as well as my near-sighted- 
ness, prevented me from distinguishing the features 
of the personage who was receiving me with this solemn 
welcome. I had always, however, understood that 
Lady Hester Stanhope wore the male attire, and I 
began to utter in English the common civilities which 
seemed to be proper on the commencement of a visit 
by an uninspired mortal to a renowned Prophetess, 
but the figure which I addressed only bowed so much 
the more, prostrating itself almost to the ground, but 
speaking to me never a word ; I feebly strived not to 
be outdone in gestures of respect, but presently my 
bowing opponent saw the error under which I was act- 
ing, and suddenly convinced me, that at all events, I 
was not yet in the presence of a superhuman being, by 
declaring that he was not " Miladi," but was, in fact, 
nothing more or less god-like than the poor Doctor, 
who had brought his Mistress's letters to Beyrout. 

Her Ladyship, in the right spirit of hospitality, now 
sent, and commanded me to repose for a while after 
the fatigues of my journey, and to dine. 

The cuisine was of the Oriental kind, which is highly 
artificial, and I thought it very good. I rejoiced, too, in 
the wine of the Lebanon. 

Soon after the ending of the dinner the Doctor 
arrived with Miladi's compliments, and an intimation 
that she would be happy to receive me if I were so 
disposed. It had now grown dark, and the rain was 
falling heavily, so that I got rather wet in following my 
guide through the open courts which I had to pass, in 



LADY HESTER STANHOPE 75 



order to reach the presence chamber. At last I was 
ushered into a small apartment, which was protected 
from the drafts of air passing through the door- way by 
a folding screen ; passing this, I came alongside of a 
common European sofa, where sat the Lady Prophetess. 
She rose from her seat very formally — spoke to me a 
few words of welcome, pointed to a chair which was 
placed exactly opposite to her sofa, at a couple of yards 
distance, and remained standing up to the full of her 
majestic height, perfectly still, and motionless, until I 
had taken my appointed place ; she then resumed her 
seat, not packing herself up according to the mode of 
the Orientals, but allowing her feet to rest on the floor, 
or the footstool ; at the moment of seating herself she 
covered her lap with a mass of loose, white drapery, 
which she held in her hand. It occurred to me at the 
time, that she did this in order to avoid the awkward- 
ness of sitting in manifest trowsers under the eye of an 
European, but I can hardly fancy now, that with her 
wilful nature, she would have brooked such a compro- 
mise as this. 

The woman before me had exactly the person of a 
Prophetess — not, indeed, of the divine Sibyl imagined 
by Domenichino, so sweetly distracted betwixt Love, 
and Mystery, but of a good business-like, practical, 
Prophetess, long used to the exercise of her sacred 
calling. I have been told by those who knew Lady- 
Hester Stanhope in her youth, that any notion of a re- 
semblance betwixt her, and the great Chatham, must 
have been fanciful, but at the time of my seeing her, 
the large commanding features of the gaunt woman, 
then sixty years old or more, certainly reminded me of 
the Statesman that lay dying 1 in the House of Lords, 
according to Copley's picture ; her face was of the most 
astonishing whiteness ; 2 she wore a very large turban, 

1 Historically il fainting /" the death did not occur until long 
afterwards. 

2 I am told that in youth she was exceedingly sallow, 



76 



EOTHEN 



which seemed to be of pale cashmere shawls, so dis- 
posed as to conceal the hair ; her dress, from the chin 
down to the point at which it was concealed by the 
drapery which she held over her lap, was a mass of 
white linen loosely folding — an ecclesiastical sort of 
affair — more like a surplice than any of those blessed 
creations which our souls love under the names of 
"dress," and "frock," and "boddice," and "collar," 
and " habit-shirt," and sweet " chemisette." 

Such was the outward seeming" of the personag'e that 
sat before me, and indeed she was almost bound by the 
fame of her actual achievements, as well as by her 
sublime pretensions, to look a little differently from 
the rest of woman-kind. There had been something 
of grandeur in her career : after the death of Lady 
Chatham, which happened in 1803, she lived under the 
roof of her uncle, the second Pitt, and when he resumed 
the Government in 1804, she became the dispenser of 
much patronage, and sole Secretary of State, for the 
department of Treasury banquets. Not having seen 
the Lady until late in her life, when she was fired with 
spiritual ambition, I can hardly fancy that she could 
have performed her political duties in the saloons of 
the Minister with much of feminine sweetness, and 
patience ; I am told, however, that she managed 
matters very well indeed ; perhaps it was better for the 
lofty-minded leader of the House, to have his reception- 
rooms guarded by this stately creature, than by a merely 
clever, and managing woman ; it was fitting that the 
wholesome awe with which he filled the minds of the 
country gentlemen, should be aggravated by the pre- 
sence of his majestic niece. But the end was approach- 
ing ; the sun of Austerlitz shewed the Czar madly sliding 
his splendid army like a weaver's shuttle, from his right 
hand to his left, under the very eyes — the deep, gray, 
watchful eyes of Napoleon ; before night came, the 
coalition was a vain thing — meet for History, and the 
heart of its great author was crushed with grief, when 
the terrible tidings came to his ears. In the bitterness 



LADY HESTER STANHOPE 77 



of his despair, he cried out to his niece, and bid her 
"Roll up the Map of Europe there was a little 
more of suffering, and at last, with his swollen tongue 
still muttering something for England, he died by the 
noblest of all sorrows. 

Lady Hester meeting the calamity in her own fierce 
way, seems to have scorned the poor island that had 
not enough of God's grace, to keep the " heaven-sent " 
minister alive. I can hardly tell why it should be, but 
there is a longing for the East, very commonly felt by 
proud-hearted people, when goaded by sorrow. Lady 
Hester Stanhope obeyed this impulse ; for some time, 
I believe, she was at Constantinople, where her mag- 
nificence, and near alliance to the late minister, gained 
her great influence. Afterwards she passed into Syria. 
The people of that country, excited by the achieve- 
ments of Sir Sydney Smith, had begun to imagine the 
possibility of their land being occupied by the English, 
and many of them looked upon Lady Hester as a 
Princess who came to prepare the way for the expected 
conquest.** I don't know it from her own lips, or indeed 
from any certain authority, but I have been told that 
she began her connection with the Bedouins by making 
a large present of money, (^500, it was said, immense 
in piastres) to the Sheik whose authority was recognized 
in that part of the Desert, which lies between Damascus 
and Palmyra. The prestige created by the rumours 
of her high, and undefined rank, as well as of her 
wealth, and corresponding magnificence, was well sus- 
tained by her imperious character, and her dauntless 
bravery. Her influence increased. I never heard any 
thing satisfactory as to the real extent, or duration of 
her sway, but it seemed that for a time at least, she 
certainly exercised something like sovereignty amongst 
the wandering tribes. 1 And now that her earthly king- 

1 [This was my impression at the time of writing the above 
passage — an impression created by the popular and uncontra- 
dicted accounts of the matter, as well as by the tenor of Lady 



78 



EOTHEN 



dom had passed away, she strove for spiritual power, 
and impiously dared, as it was said, to boast some 
mystic union with the very God of very God ! 

A couple of black slave girls came at a signal, and 
supplied their mistress as well as myself, with lighted 
tchibouques, and coffee. 

The custom of the East sanctions, and almost com- 
mands some moments of silence whilst you are inhaling 
the first few breaths of the fragrant pipe ; the pause 
was broken, I think, by my Lady, who addressed to 
me some inquiries respecting my mother, and particu- 
larly as to her marriage ; but before I had communicated 
any great amount of family facts, the spirit of the 
Prophetess kindled within her, and presently, (though 
with all the skill of a woman of the world,) she shuffled 
away the subject of poor, dear Somersetshire, and 
bounded onward into loftier spheres of thought. 

My old acquaintance with some of "the twelve," 
enabled me to bear my part, (of course a very humble 
one,) in a conversation relative to occult science. 
Milnes once spread a report, that every gang of gipsies 
was found upon inquiry to have come last from a place 
to the westward, and to be about to make the next 
move in an eastern 'direction ; either therefore they 
were to be all gathered together towards the rising of 
the sun, by the mysterious finger of Providence, or 
else they were to revolve round the globe for ever, and 
ever, and ever ; both of these suppositions were highly 
gratifying, because they were both marvellous, and 
though the story on which they were founded plainly 
sprung from the inventive brain of a poet, no one had 
ever been so odiously statistical as to attempt a contra- 
diction of it. I now mentioned the story as a report 
to Lady Hester Stanhope, and asked her if it were 

Hester's conversation. I have now some reason to think that I 
was deceived, and that her sway in the desert was much more 
limited than 1 had supposed. She seems to have had from the 
Bedouins a fair five-hundred-pounds' worth of respect, and not. 
much more. — Note in Third EditonJ] 



LADY HESTER STANHOPE 79 

true ; I could not have touched upon any imaginable 
subject more deeply interesting to my hearer — more 
closely akin to her habitual train of thinking ; she 
immediately threw off all the restraint belonging to an 
interview with a stranger ; and when she had received 
a few more similar proofs of my aptness for the mar- 
vellous, she went so far as to say, that she would adopt 
me as her "eleve" in occult science. 

For hours, and hours, this wondrous white woman 
poured forth her speech, for the most part concerning 
sacred, and profane mysteries ; but every now and 
then, she would stay her lofty flight, and swoop down 
upon the world again ; whenever this happened, I was 
interested in her conversation. 

She adverted more than once to the period of her 
lost sway amongst the Arabs, and mentioned some of 
the circumstances which aided her in obtaining in- 
fluence with the wandering tribes. The Bedouin, so 
often engaged in irregular warfare, strains his eyes to 
the horizon in search of a coming enemy just as 
habitually as the sailor keeps his " bright look out " 
for a strange sail. In the absence of telescopes, a far 
reaching sight is highly valued, and Lady Hester pos- 
sessed this quality to an extraordirary degree. She 
told me that on one occasion, when there was good 
reason to expect a hostile attack, great excitement was 
felt in the camp by the report of a far-seeing Arab, who 
declared that he could just distinguish some moving 
objects upon the very furthest point within the reach 
of his eyes ; Lady Hester was consulted, and she in- 
stantly assured her comrades in arms, that there were 
indeed a number of horses within sight, but that they 
were without riders ; the assertion proved to be correct, 
and from that time forth, her superiority over all others 
in respect of far sight remained undisputed. 

Lady Hester related to me this other anecdote of her 
Arab life ; it was when the heroic qualities of the 
Englishwoman were just beginning to be felt amongst 
the people of the desert, that she was marching one 



V 



80 EOTHEN 

day along with the forces of the tribe, to which she 
had allied herself. She perceived that preparations for 
an engagement were going on, and' upon her making 
inquiry as to the cause, the Sheik at first affected 
mystery, and concealment, but at last confessed that 
war had been declared against his tribe on account of 
its alliance with the English Princess, and that they 
were now unfortunately about to be attacked by a very 
superior force ; he made it appear that Lady Hester 
was the sole cause of hostility betwixt his tribe, and 
the impending enemy, and that his sacred duty of pro- 
tecting the Englishwoman whom he had admitted as 
his guest, was the only obstacle which prevented an 
amicable arrangement of the dispute. The Sheik 
hinted that his tribe was likely to sustain an almost 
overwhelming blow, but at the same time declared, that 
no fear of the consequences, however terrible to him, 
and his whole people, should induce him to dream of 
abandoning his illustrious guest. The Heroine instantly 
took her part ; it was not for her to be a source of 
danger to her friends, but rather to her enemies, so 
she resolved to turn away from the people, and trust 
for help to none, save only her haughty self. The 
Sheiks affected to dissuade her from so rash a course, 
and fairly told her that although they (having been 
freed from her presence) would be able to make good 
terms for themselves, yet that there were no means of 
allaying the hostility felt towards her, and that the 
whole face of the desert would be swept by the horse- 
men of her enemies so carefully, as to make her escape 
into other districts almost impossible. The brave 
woman was not to be moved by terrors of this kind, 
and bidding farewell to the tribe which had honoured, 
and protected her, she turned her horse's head, and 
rode straight away from them, without friend, or follower. 
Hours had elapsed, and for some time she had been 
alone in the centre of the round horizon, when her quick 
eye perceived some horsemen in the distance. The 
party came nearer, and nearer ; soon it was plain that 



LADY HESTER STANHOPE 81 



they were making towards her, and presently some 
hundreds of Bedouins, fully armed, galloped up to her, 
ferociously shouting, and apparently intending to take 
her life at the instant with their pointed spears. Her 
face at the time was covered with the yashmack accord- 
ing to Eastern usage, but at the moment when the 
foremost of the horsemen had all but reached her with 
their spears, she stood up in her stirrups — withdrew 
the yashmack that veiled the terrors of her counten- 
ance — waved her arm slowly and disdainfully, and 
cried out with a loud voice "Avaunt !" 1 The horsemen 
recoiled from her glance, but not in terror. The 
threatening yells of the assailants were suddenly 
changed for loud shouts of joy, and admiration, at the 
bravery of the stately English woman, and festive gun 
shots were fired on all sides around her honoured head. 
The truth was, that the party belonged to the tribe with 
which she had allied herself, and that the threatened 
attack, as well as the pretended apprehension of an 
engagement, had been contrived for the mere purpose 
of testing her courage. The day ended in a great 
feast prepared to do honour to the heroine, and from 
that time her power over the minds of the people grew 
rapidly. Lady Hester related this story with great 
spirit, and I recollect that she put up her yashmack for 
a moment, in order to give me a better idea of the effect 
which she produced by suddenly revealing the awful- 
ness of her countenance. 

With respect to her then present mode of life, Lady 
Hester informed me, that for her sin, she had sub- 
jected herself during many years to severe penance, 
and that her self denial had not been without its 
reward. " Vain and false," said she, " is all the pre- 
tended knowledge of the Europeans — their Doctors 
will tell you that the drinking of milk gives yellowness 

1 She spoke it, I dare say in English ; the words would not 
be the less effective for being spoken in an unknown tongue. 
Lady Hester, I believe, never learnt to speak the Arabic with a 
perfect accent. 

G 



82 



EOTHEN 



to the complexion ; milk is my only food, and you see 
if my face be not white." Her abstinence from food 
intellectual, was carried as far as her physical fasting ; 
she never, she said, looked upon a book, nor a news- 
paper, but trusted alone to the stars for her sublime 
knowledge ; she usually passed the nights in com- 
muning with these heavenly teachers, and lay at rest 
during the day-time. She spoke with great contempt 
of the frivolity, and benighted ignorance of the modern 
Europeans, and mentioned in proof of this, that they 
were not only untaught in astrology, but were unac- 
quainted with the common, and every day phenomena 
produced by magic art ; she spoke as if she would 
make me understand that all sorcerous spells were 
completely at her command, but that the exercise of 
such powers would be derogatory to her high rank in 
the heavenly kingdom. She said, that the spell by 
which the face of an absent person is thrown upon a 
mirror, was within the reach of the humblest, and most 
contemptible magicians, but that the practice of such 
like arts was unholy, as well as vulgar. 

We spoke of the bending twig by which it is said, 
that precious metals may be discovered. In relation 
to this, the Prophetess told me a story rather against 
herself, and inconsistent with the notion of her being 
perfect in her science, but I think that she mentioned 
the facts as having happened before the time at which 
she attained to the great spiritual authority which she 
now arrogated ; she told me that vast treasures were 
known to exist in a situation which she mentioned, 
if I rightly remember, as being near Suez : that 
Napoleon, profanely brave, thrust his arm into the 
cave, containing the coveted gold, and that instantly 
his flesh became palsied, but the youthful hero, (for 
she said he was great in his generation), was not to 
be thus daunted ; he fell back characteristically upon 
his brazen resources, and ordered up his artillery ; but 
man could not strive with demons, and Napoleon was 
foiled. In years after came Ibrahim Pasha, with 



LADY HESTER STANHOPE 83 



heavy guns, and wicked spells to-boot, but the infernal 
guardians of the treasure were too strong for him. It 
was after this that Lady Hester passed by the spot, 
and she described, with animated gesture, the force, 
and energy with which the divining twig had suddenly 
leaped in her hands ; she ordered excavations, and no 
demons opposed her enterprise ; the . vast chest in 
which the treasure had been deposited was at length 
discovered, but lo ! and behold, it was full of pebbles ! 
She said, however, that the times were approaching, 
in which the hidden treasures of the earth, would 
become available to those who had true knowledge. 

Speaking of Ibrahim Pasha, Lady Hester said, that 
he was a bold, bad man, and was possessed of some of 
those common, and wicked magical arts, upon which 
she looked down with so much contempt ; she said, for 
instance, that Ibrahim's life was charmed against balls, 
and steel, and that after a battle, he loosened the folds 
of his shawl, and shook out the bullets like dust. 

It seems that the St. Simonians once made over- 
tures to Lady Hester ; she told me that the Pere 
Enfantin (the chief of the sect) had sent her a service 
of plate, but that she had declined to receive it ; she 
delivered a prediction as to the probability of the St. 
Simonians finding the " mystic mother," and this she 
did in a way which would amuse you ; unfortunately 
I am not at liberty to mention this part of the woman's 
prophecies ; why, I cannot tell, but so it is, that she 
bound me to eternal secrecy. 

Lady Hester told me that since her residence at 
Djoun, she had been attacked by a terrible illness, 
which rendered her for a long time perfectly helpless ; 
all her attendants fled, and left her to perish. Whilst 
she lay thus alone, and quite unable to rise, robbers 
came, and carried away her property ; 1 she told me, 

1 The proceedings thus described to me, by Lady Hester, as 
having taken place during her illness, were afterwards re-enacted 
at the time of her death. Since I wrote the words to which this 
note is appended, I received from an English traveller [Eliot 



8 4 



EOTHEN 



that they actually unroofed a great part of the building, 
and employed engines with pullies, for the purpose of 
hoisting out such of her valuables as were too bulky 
to pass through doors. It would seem, that before 
this catastrophe, Lady Hester had been rich in the 
possession of Eastern luxuries, for she told me that 

War burton] this interesting account of the heroine's death, or 
rather of the circumstances attending the discovery of the event ; 
the letter is dated Djoun, (Lady Hester's late residence,) and 
contains the following passages : — "I reached this strange hermi- 
tage last night, and though time, and some naval officers are 
urging my departure, I am too glad to find myself in a place 
whereof we have often discoursed, to allow the opportunity of 
writing to you to pass by. How beautiful must this convent- 
palace have been when you saw it, its strange mistress doing its 
hospitalities, and exercising her self- won regal power ! A friend 

of has a letter from the Sultan to her, beginning 1 Cousin.' 

She annihilated a village for disobedience, and burned a moun- 
tain chalet with all its inhabitants, for the murder of a traveller. 
. . . She held on gallantly to the last. Moore, our Consul at 
Beyroot, heard she was ill, and rode over the mountains accom- 
panied by a missionary, to visit her. A profound silence was 
over all the palace — no one met them — they lighted their own 
lamps in the outer court, and passed unquestioned through court 
and gallery, till they came to where she lay : a corpse was the 
only inhabitant of Djoun, and the isolation from her kind which 
she so long sought, was indeed completed. That morning 
thirty-seven servants had watched every motion of her eye ; that 
spell once darkened by death, every one fled with the plunder ; 
not a single thing was left in the room where she lay dead, ex- 
cept upon her person ; no one had ventured to touch that, and 
even in death she seemed able to protect herself. At midnight 
the missionary carried her out to a favourite resort of hers in the 
garden, and there they buried her. . . . The buildings are fast 
falling into decay. " 

[In the third and later editions the author omits Warburton's 
letter and substitutes the following : "I must now give up the 
borrowed ornament, and omit my extract from my friend's letter, 
for the rightful owner has reprinted it in ' The Crescent and the 
Cross.' I know what a sacrifice I am making, for in noticing 
the first edition of this book, reviewers turned aside from the 
text to the note, and remarked upon the interesting information 
which Warburton's letter contained, and the descriptive force 
with which it was written."] 



LADY HESTER STANHOPE 85 



when the chiefs of the Ottoman force took refuge with 
her after the fall of Acre, they brought their wives 
also in great numbers ; to all of these Lady Hester, 
as she said, presented magnificent dresses, but her 
generosity occasioned strife only instead of gratitude, 
for every woman who fancied her present less splendid 
than that of another, with equal or less pretension, be- 
came absolutely furious ; all these audacious guests 
had now been got rid of, but the Albanian soldiers 
who had taken refuge with Lady Hester at the same 
time, still remained under her protection. 

In truth, this half-ruined convent, guarded by the 
proud heart of an English gentlewoman, was the only 
spot throughout all Syria and Palestine in which the 
will of Mehemet Ali, and his fierce Lieutenant was not 
the law. More than once had the Pasha of Egypt 
commanded that Ibrahim should have the Albanians 
delivered up to him, but this white woman of the 
mountain (grown classical, not by books, but by very 
pride,) answered only with a disdainful invitation to 
" come and take them." Whether it was that Ibrahim 
was acted upon by any superstitious dread of inter- 
fering with the Prophetess, (a notion not at all incom- 
patible with his character as an able Oriental com- 
mander,) or that he feared the ridicule of putting 
himself in collision with a gentlewoman, he certainly 
never ventured to attack the sanctuary, and so long as 
the Chatham's grand-daughter breathed a breath of life, 
there was always this one hillock, and that too, in the 
midst of a most populous district, which stood out, 
and kept its freedom. Mehemet Ali used to say, I am 
told, that the English woman had given him more 
trouble than all the insurgent people of Syria and 
Palestine. 

The Prophetess announced to me that we were 
upon the eve of a stupendous convulsion, which would 
destroy the then recognized value of all property upon 
earth, and declaring that those only who should be in 
the East at the time of the great change, could hope 



86 



EOTHEN 



for greatness in the new life that was now close at 
hand, she advised me, whilst there was yet time, to 
dispose of my property in fragile England, and gain a 
station in Asia ; she told me that, after leaving her, I 
should go into Egypt, but that in a little while I should 
return into Syria. I secretly smiled at this last pro- 
phecy as a "bad shot," for I had fully determined, 
after visiting the pyramids to take ship from Alex- 
andria for Greece, But men struggle vainly in the 
meshes of their Destiny ; the unbelieved Cassandra 
was right after all ; the Plague came, and the necessity 
of avoiding the Quarantine to which I should have 
been subjected, if I had sailed from Alexandria, forced 
me to alter my route ; I went down into Egypt, and 
stayed there for a time, and then crossed the Desert 
once more, and came back to the mountains of the 
Lebanon exactly as the Prophetess had foretold. 

Lady Hester talked to me long, and earnestly on the 
subject of Religion, announcing that the Messiah was 
yet to come ; she strived to impress me with the vanity 
and the falseness of all European creeds, as well as 
with a sense of her own spiritual greatness : through- 
out her conversation upon these high topics, she skil- 
fully insinuated, without actually asserting her heavenly 
rank. 

Amongst other much more marvellous powers, the 
Lady claimed to have one which most women I fancy, 
possess, namely, that of reading men's characters in their 
faces ; she examined the line of my features very atten- 
tively,^ and told me the result, which, however, I mean 
to keep hidden. 

One great subject of discourse was that of " race," 
upon which she was very diffuse, and yet rather mys- 
terious ; she set great value upon the ancient French 
(not Norman blood, for that she vilified), but did not 
at all appreciate that which we call in this country, "an 
old family." 1 She had a vast idea of the Cornish miners, 

^ In a letter which I afterwards received from Lady Hester, 
she mentioned incidentally Lord Hardwicke, and said that he 



LADY HESTER STANHOPE 87 



on account of their race, and said, if she chose, she 
could give me the means of rousing them to the most 
tremendous enthusiasm. 

Such are the topics on which the Lady mainly con- 
versed, but very often she would descend to more 
worldly chat, and then she was no longer the prophetess, 
but the sort of woman that you sometimes see, I am 
told, in London drawing-rooms, — cool — unsparing of 
enemies — full of audacious fun, and saying the down- 
right things that the sheepish society around her is 
afraid to utter. * I am told that Lady Hester was in her 
youth a capital mimic, and she shewed me that not all 
the queenly dullness to which she had condemned her- 
self, — not all her fasting, and solitude, had destroyed 
this terrible power. The first whom she crucified in 
my presence, was poor Lord Byron ; she had seen him, 
it appeared, I know not where, soon after his arrival 
in the East, and was vastly amused at his little affecta- 
tions ; he had picked up a few sentences of the Romaic, 
with which he affected to give orders to his Greek serv- 
ant ; I can't tell whether Lady Hester's mimicry of 
the bard was at all close, but it was amusing ; she 
attributed to him a curiously coxcombical lisp. 

Another person whose style of speaking the Lady 
took off very amusingly was one who would scarcely 
object to suffer by the side of Lord Byron, — I mean 
Lamartine, who had visited her in the course of his 
travels ; the peculiarity which attracted her ridicule 
was an over-refinement of manner : according to my 
Lady's imitation of Lamartine, (I have never seen him 
myself,) he had none of the violent grimace of his 
countrymen, and not even their usual way of talking, 

was "the kindest-hearted man existing, — a most manly, firm 
character. He comes from a good breed, — all the Yorkes excel- 
lent, with ancient French blood in their veins." [The under- 
scoring of the word *' ancient," is by the writer of the letter, who 
had certainly no great love or veneration for the French of the 
present day : she did not consider them as descended from her 
favourite stock. — Added in Third Edition.] 



88 



EOTHEN 



but rather bore himself mincingly, like the humbler 
sort of English dandy. 1 

Lady Hester seems to have heartily despised every 
thing approaching to exquisiteness ; she told me, by 
the by, (and her opinion upon that subject is worth 
having) that a downright manner, amounting even to 
brusqueness, is more effective than any other with the 
Oriental ; and that amongst the English, of all ranks, 
and all classes, there is no man so attractive to the 
Orientals — no man who can negotiate with them half 
so effectively, as a good, honest, open-hearted, and 
positive naval officer of the old school. 

I have told you I think that Lady Hester could deal 
fiercely with those she hated ; one man above all others 
(he is now uprooted from society, and cast away for ever) 
she blasted with her wrath ; you would have thought 
that in the scornfulness of her nature, she must have 
sprung upon her foe with more of fierceness, than of 
skill, but this was not so, for with all the force, and 
vehemence of her invective, she displayed a sober, 
patient, and minute attention to the details of vitupera- 
tion, which contributed to its success a thousand times 
more than mere violence. 

During the hours that this sort of conversation or 
rather discourse was going on, our tchibouques were 
from time to time replenished, and the Lady as well as 
I, continued to smoke with little or no intermission, 
'till the interview ended. I think that the fragrant 
fumes of the Latakiah must have helped to keep me 

1 It is said that deaf people can hear what is said concerning 
themselves, and it would seem that those who live without 
books, or newspapers, know all that is written about them. 
Lady Hester Stanhope, though not admitting a book or news- 
paper into her fortress, seems to have known the way in which 
M. Lamartine mentioned her in his book, for in a letter which 
she wrote to me after my return to England, she says, "although 
neglected, as Monsieur Le M." (referring as I believe to M. 
Lamartine) "describes, and without books, yet my head is 
organized to supply the want of them, as well as acquired 
knowledge." 



LADY HESTER STANHOPE 89 



on my good behaviour as a patient disciple of the 
Prophetess. 

It was not till after midnight that my visit for the 
evening came to an end ; when I quitted my seat the 
lady rose, and stood up in the same formal attitude 
(almost that of a soldier in a state of "attention,") 
which she had assumed at my entrance ; at the same 
time she let go the drapery which she had held over her 
lap whilst sitting, and allowed it to fall to the ground. 

The next morning after breakfast I was visited by 
my Lady's Secretary — the only European, except the 
Doctor, whom she retained in her household. This 
Secretary, like the Doctor, was Italian, but he preserved 
more signs of European dress, and European preten- 
sions, than his medical fellow-slave. He spoke little 
or no English, though he wrote it pretty well, having 
been formerly employed in a mercantile house connected 
with England. The poor fellow was in an unhappy 
state of mind. In order to make you understand the 
extent of his spiritual anxieties, I ought to have told 
you that the Doctor 1 (who had sunk into the complete 
Asiatic, and had condescended accordingly to the per- 
formance of even menial services) had adopted the 
common faith of all the neighbouring people, and had 
become a firm, and happy believer in the divine power 
of his mistress. Not so the Secretary ; when I had 
strolled with him to a distance from the building, which 
rendered him safe from being overheard by human 
ears, he told me in a hollow voice, trembling with 
emotion, that there were times at which he doubted 
the divinity of " Miledi." I said nothing to encourage 
the poor fellow in that frightful state of scepticism, 
which, if indulged, might end in positive infidelity. I 

1 [I have been recently told that this Italian's pretensions to 
the healing art were thoroughly unfounded. My informant is a 
gentleman who enjoyed, during many years, the esteem and 
confidence of Lady Hester Stanhope : his adventures in the 
Levant were most curious and interesting, and will soon be im- 
parted to the public— Note in Third Edition.'] 



90 



EOTHEN 



found that her ladyship had rather arbitrarily abridged 
the amusements of her Secretary, forbidding him from 
shooting small birds on the mountain side. This op- 
pression had aroused in him a spirit of inquiry that 
might end fatally — perhaps for himself — perhaps for 
the " religion of the place." 

The Secretary told me that his Mistress was greatly 
disliked by the surrounding people, whom she oppressed 
by her exactions, and the truth of this statement was 
borne out by the way in which my Lady spoke to me of 
her neighbours. But in Eastern countries, hate and 
veneration are very commonly felt for the same object, 
and the general belief in the superhuman power of this 
wonderful white lady — her resolute and imperious 
character, and above all, perhaps, her fierce Albanians 
(not backward to obey an order for the sacking of a 
village) inspired sincere respect amongst the surround- 
ing inhabitants. Now the being " respected" amongst 
Orientals, is not an empty, or merely honorary distinc- 
tion, for, on the contrary, it carries with it a clear right 
to take your neighbour's corn, his cattle, his eggs, and 
his honey, and almost any thing that is his, except his 
wives. This law was acted upon by the Princess of 
Djoun, and her establishment was supplied by con- 
tributions apportioned amongst the nearest of the 
villages. 

I understood that the Albanians (restrained, I sup- 
pose, by the dread of being delivered up to Ibrahim) 
had not given any very troublesome proofs of their 
unruly natures. The Secretary told me that their 
rations, including a small allowance of coffee, and 
tobacco, were served out to them with tolerable 
regularity. 

I asked the Secretary, how Lady Hester was off for 
horses, and said that I would take a look at the stable ; 
the man did not raise any opposition to my proposal, 
and affected no mystery about the matter, but said that 
the only two steeds which then belonged to her Lady- 
ship were of a very humble sort ; this answer, and a 



LADY HESTER STANHOPE 91 



storm of rain which began to descend, prevented me 
at the time from undertaking my journey to the stable, 
which was at some distance from the part of the 
building in which I was quartered, and I don't know 
that I ever thought of the matter afterwards, until my 
return to England, when I saw Lamartine's eye- 
witnessing account of the horse saddled by the hands 
of his Maker ! 

When I returned to my apartment (which, as my 
hostess told me, was the only one in the whole building 
that kept out the rain) her Ladyship sent to say that 
she would be glad to receive me again ; I was rather 
surprised at this, for I had understood that she reposed 
during the day, and it was now little later than noon. 
" Really," said she, when I had taken my seat, and my 
pipe, " we were together for hours last night, and still 
I have heard nothing at all of my old friends ; now do 
tell me something of your dear mother, and her sister ; 
I never knew your father — it was after I left Burton 
Pynsent that your mother married." I began to make 
slow answer, but my questioner soon went off again to 
topics more sublime, so that this second interview, 
which lasted two or three hours, was occupied by the 
same sort of varied discourse as that which I have 
been describing. 

In the course of the afternoon the captain of an 
English man-of-war arrived at Djoun, and her Lady- 
ship determined to receive him for the same reason as 
that which had induced her to allow my visit — namely, 
an early intimacy with his family. I, and the new 
visitor, who was a pleasant, amusing person, dined 
together, and we were afterwards invited to the pre- 
sence of my Lady, with whom we sat smoking, and 
talking till midnight. The conversation turned chiefly, 
I think, upon magical science. I had determined to 
be off at an early hour the next morning, and so at the 
end of this interview, I bade my Lady farewell. With 
her parting words she once more advised me to abandon 
Europe, and seek my reward in the East, and she 



92 



EOTHEN 



urged me too, to give the like counsels to my father, 
and tell him that " She had said tt" 

Lady Hester's unholy claim to supremacy in the 
spiritual kingdom was, no doubt, the suggestion of 
fierce, and inordinate pride most perilously akin to 
madness, but I am quite sure that the mind of the 
woman was too strong to be thoroughly overcome by 
even this potent feeling. I plainly saw that she was 
not an unhesitating follower of her own system, and I 
even fancied that I could distinguish, the brief moments 
during which she contrived to believe in Herself, from 
those long, and less happy intervals in which her own 
reason was too strong for her. 

As for the Lady's faith in Astrology, and Magic 
science, you are not for a moment to suppose, that this 
implied any aberration of intellect. She believed these 
things in common with those around her, for she 
seldom spoke to anybody, except crazy old dervishes, 
who received her alms, and fostered her extravagances, 
and even when (as on the occasion of my visit) she was 
brought into contact with a person entertaining different 
notions, she still remained uncontradicted. This 
entourage, and the habit of fasting from books, and 
newspapers were quite enough to make her a facile 
recipient of any marvellous story. 

I think that in England we are scarcely sufficiently 
conscious of the great debt we owe to the wise, and 
watchful press which presides over the formation of our 
opinions, and which brings about this splendid result, 
namely, that in matters of belief the humblest of us are 
lifted up to the level of the most sagacious, so that 
really a simple Cornet in the Blues is no more likely to 
entertain a foolish belief about ghosts, or witchcraft, or 
any other supernatural topic, than the Lord High- 
Chancellor, or the Leader of the House of Commons. 
How different is the intellectual regime of Eastern 
countries ! In Syria, and Palestine, and Egypt, you 
might as well dispute the efficacy of grass, or grain, as 
of Magic. There is no controversy about the matter. 



LADY HESTER STANHOPE 93 



The effect of this, the unanimous belief of an ignorant 
people upon the mind of a stranger, is extremely curious, 
and well worth noticing. A man coming freshly from 
Europe is at first proof against the nonsense with which 
he is assailed, but often it happens that after a little 
while the social atmosphere in which he lives will 
begin to infect him, and if he has been unaccustomed 
to the cunning of fence by which Reason prepares the 
means of guarding herself against fallacy, he will yield 
rrjmself at last to the faith of those around him, and 
this he will do by sympathy, it would seem, rather than 
from conviction. I have been much interested in 
observing that the mere "practical man," however skil- 
ful, and shrewd in his own way, has not the kind of 
power which enables him to resist the gradual impres- 
sion which is made upon his mind by the common 
opinion of those whom he sees, and hears from day to 
day. Even amongst the English (whose good sense 
and sound religious knowledge would be likely to 
guard them from error), I have known the calculating 
merchant, the inquisitive traveller, and the post-captain, 
with his bright, wakeful eye of command — I have 
known all these surrender themselves to the really 
magic-like influence of other people's minds ; their 
language at first is that they are " staggered ; " leading 
you by that expression to suppose that they had been 
witnesses to some phenomenon, which it was very 
difficult to account for otherwise than by super-natural 
causes, but when I have questioned further, I have 
always found that these " staggering " wonders were 
not even specious enough to be looked upon as good 
" tricks." A man in England, who gained his whole liveli- 
hood as a conjuror, would soon be starved to death if he 
could perform no better miracles than those which are 
wrought with so much effect in Syria, and Egypt ; some^ 
time^ no doubt, a magician will make a good hit, (Sir 
Robert once said a "good thing,") but all such successes 
• range, of course, under the head of mere "tentative mira- 
cles," as distinguished by the strong-brained Paley. 



CHAPTER IX 



THE SANCTUARY 

I CROSSED the plain of Esdraelon, and entered 
amongst the hills of beautiful Galilee. It was at 
sunset that my path brought me sharply round into the 
gorge of a little valley, and close upon a gray mass of 
dwellings that lay happily nestled in the lap of the 
mountain. There was one only shining point still 
touched with the light of the sun, who had set for all 
besides ; a brave sign this to " holy " Shereef, and the 
rest of my Moslem men, for the one glittering summit 
was the head of a minaret, and the rest of the seeming 
village that had veiled itself so meekly under the shades 
of evening was Christian Nazareth ! 

Within the precincts of the Latin convent in which I 
was quartered, there stands the great Catholic church 
which encloses the Sanctuary — the dwelling of the 
blessed Virgin. 1 This is a grotto of about ten feet 

1 The Greek Church does not recognize this as the true Sanc- 
tuary, and many Protestants look upon all the traditions, by 
which it is attempted to ascertain the holy places of Palestine as 
utterly fabulous. For myself, I do not mean either to affirm, or 
deny the correctness of the opinion which has fixed upon this as 
the true site, but merely to mention it as a belief entertained, 
without question, by my brethren of the Latin church, whose 
guest I was at the time. It would be a great aggravation of the 
trouble of writing about these matters, if I were to stop in the 
midst of every sentence for the purpose of saying " so-called," or 
" so it is said," and would besides sound very ungraciously ; yet 
I am anxious to be literally true in all I write. Now, thus it is 
that I mean to get over my difficulty. Whenever in this great 



THE SANCTUARY 



95 



either way, forming a little chapel or recess, to which 
you descend by steps. It is decorated with splendour : 
on the left hand a column of granite hangs from the top 
of the grotto, to within a few feet of the ground ; im- 
mediately beneath it is another column of the same 
size, which rises from the ground as if to meet the one 
above ; but between this, and the suspended pillar, 
there is an interval of more than a foot ; these frag- 
ments once formed a single column, against which the 
angel leant, when he spoke, and told to Mary the 
mystery of her awful blessedness. Hard by, near the 
altar, the holy Virgin was kneeling. 

I had been journeying (cheerily indeed, for the voices 
of my followers were ever within my hearing, but yet) 
as it were, in solitude, for I had no comrade to whet 
the edge of my reason, or wake me from my noon-day 
dreams. I was left all alone to be taught, and swayed 
by the beautiful circumstances of Palestine travelling 
— by the clime, and the land, and the name of the land 
with all its mighty import — by the glittering freshness 
of the sward, and the abounding masses of flowers that 
furnished my sumptuous pathway — by the bracing, and 
fragrant air that seemed to poise me in my saddle, and 
to lift me along like a planet appointed to glide through 
space. 

And the end of my journey was Nazareth — the home 
of the Blessed Virgin ! In the first dawn of my man- 
hood, the old painters of Italy had taught me their 
dangerous worship of the beauty that is more than 
mortal, but those images all seemed shadowy now, and 
floated before me so dimly, the one overcasting the 

bundle of papers, or book, (if book it is to be,) you see any words 
about matters of religion which would seem to involve the asser- 
tion of my own opinion, you are to understand me, just as if one 
or other of the qualifying phrases above mentioned, had been 
actually inserted in every sentence. My general direction for 
you to construe me thus, will render all that I write, as strictly 
and accurately true, as if I had every time lugged in a formal 
declaration of the fact, that I was merely expressing the notions 
of other people. 



96 



EOTHEN 



other, that they left me no one sweet idol on which I 
could look, and look again, and say, " Maria mia ! w 
Yet they left me more than an idol — they left me (for to 
them I am wont to trace it) a faint apprehension of 
Beauty not compassed with lines, and shadows — they 
touched me (forgive, proud Marie of Anjou !) they 
touched me with a faith in loveliness transcending 
mortal shapes. 

I came to Nazareth, and was led from the convent to 
the Sanctuary. Long fasting will sometimes heat my 
brain, and draw me away out of the world — will disturb 
my judgment, confuse my notions of right, and wrong, 
and weaken my power of choosing the right ; I had 
fasted perhaps too long, for I was fevered with the zeal 
of an insane devotion to the Heavenly Queen of 
Christendom. But I knew the feebleness of this gentle 
malady, and knew how easily my watchful reason, if 
ever so slightly provoked, would drag me back to life ; 
let there but come one chilling breath of the outer 
world, and all this loving piety would cower, and fly 
before the sound of my own bitter laugh. And so as I 
went, I trod tenderly, not looking to the right, nor to 
left, but bending my eyes to the ground. 

The attending friar served me well — he led me down 
quietly, and all but silently to the Virgin's home. The 
mystic air was so burnt with the consuming flames of 
the altar, and so laden with incense, that my chest 
laboured strongly, and heaved with luscious pain. 
There — there with beating heart the Virgin knelt, and 
listened ! I strived to grasp, and hold with my rivetted 
eyes some one of the feigned Madonnas, but of all the 
heaven-lit faces imagined by men, there was none that 
would abide with me in this the very Sanctuary. Im- 
patient of vacancy, I grew madly strong against Nature, 
and if by some awful spell — some impious rite, I could 

Oh ! most sweet Religion that bid me fear God, and 

be pious, and yet not cease from loving ! Religion and 
gracious Custom commanded me that I fall down 
loyally, and kiss the rock that blessed Mary pressed 



THE SANCTUARY 



97 



With a half consciousness — with the semblance of a 
thrilling hope that I was plunging deep, deep into my 
first knowledge of some most holy mystery, or of some 
new, rapturous, and daring sin, I knelt, and bowed 
down my face till I met the smooth rock with my lips. 
One moment — one moment — my heart, or some old 
Pagan demon within me woke up, and fiercely bounded 
— my bosom was lifted, and swung — as though I had 
touched Her warm robe. One moment— one more, 
and then — the fever had left me. I rose from my knees. 
I felt hopelessly sane. The mere world re-appeared. 
My good old Monk was there, dangling his key with 
listless patience, and as he guided me from the Church, 
and talked of the Refectory, and the coming repast, I 
listened to his words with some attention, and pleasure. 



H 



CHAPTER X 

THE MONKS OF THE HOLY LAND 

WHENEVER you come back to me from Pales- 
tine, we will find some " golden wine," 1 of 
Lebanon, that we may celebrate with apt libations the 
monks of the Holy Land, and, though the poor fellows 
be theoretically " dead to the world," we will drink to 
every man of them a good, long life, and a merry one ! 
Graceless is the traveller who forgets his obligations to 
these saints upon earth — little love has he for merry 
Christendom, if he has not rejoiced with great joy to 
find in the very midst of water-drinking infidels, those 
lowly monasteries, in which the blessed juice of the 
grape is quaffed in peace. Ay ! Ay ! We will fill our 
glasses till they look like cups of amber, and drink 
profoundly to our gracious hosts in Palestine. 

You would be likely enough to fancy that these 
monastics are men who have retired to the sacred sites 
of Palestine, from an enthusiastic longing to devote 
themselves to the exercise of religion in the midst of 
the very land on which its first seeds were cast, and 
this is partially, at least, the case with the monks of 
the Greek Church, but it is not with enthusiasts that 
the Catholic establishments are filled. The monks of 
the Latin convents are chiefly persons of the peasant 
class, from Italy and Spain, who have been handed 
over to these remote asylums, by order of their eccle- 
siastical superiors, and can no more account for their 



1 " Vino d'oro. 



THE MONKS OF THE HOLY LAND 99 



being in the Holy Land, than men of marching regi- 
ments can explain why they are in " stupid quarters." 
I believe that these monks are for the most part well 
conducted men, — punctual in their ceremonial duties, 
and altogether humble-minded Christians ; their hu- 
mility is not at all misplaced, for you see at a glance 
(poor fellows) that they belong to the " lag remove " 
of the human race. If the taking of the cowl does 
not imply a complete renouncement of the world, it is 
at least (in these days,) a bona fide farewell to every 
kind of useful and entertaining knowledge, and accord- 
ingly, the low bestial brow, and the animal caste of 
those almost Bourbon features, shew plainly enough 
that all the intellectual vanities of life have been really, 
arid truly abandoned. But it is hard to quench alto- 
gether the spirit of Inquiry that stirs in the human 
breast, and accordingly these monks inquire, — they 
are always inquiring, — inquiring for " news ! " Poor 
fellows ! they could scarcely have yielded themselves 
to the sway of any passion more difficult of gratifica- 
tion, for they have no means of communicating with 
the journalized world, except through European travel- 
lers ; and these in consequence, I suppose, of that 
restlessness, and irritability which generally haunt 
their wanderings, seem to have always avoided the 
bore of giving any information to their hosts ; as for 
me, I am more patient, and good-natured, and when I 
found that the kind monks who gathered round me at 
Nazareth were longing to know the real truth about 
the General Bonaparte, who had recoiled from the 
siege of Acre, I softened my heart down to the good 
humour of Herodotus, and calmly began to " sing 
History,''" telling my eager hearers of the French Em- 
pire, and the greatness of its glory, and of Waterloo, 
and the fall of Napoleon ! Now my story of this 
marvellous ignorance on the part of the poor monks is 
one upon which, (though depending on my own testi- 
mony,) I look " with considerable suspicion ; " it is 
quite true, (how silly it would be to inveiit anything so 



IOO 



EOTHEN 



witless !) and yet I think I could satisfy the mind of a 
" reasonable man," that it is false. Many of the older 
monks must have been in Europe, at a time when the 
Italy and the Spain from which they came, were in 
act of taking their French lessons, or had parted so 
lately with their teachers, that not to know of "the 
Emperor" was impossible, and these men could scarcely, 
therefore, have failed to bring with them some tidings 
of Napoleon's career. Yet I say that that which I 
have written is true, — the one who believes because I 
have said it, will be right, — (she always is,) whilst 
poor Mr. "reasonable man," who is convinced by the 
weight of my argument, will be completely deceived. 

In Spanish politics, however, the monks are better 
instructed ; the revenues of the monasteries, which had 
been principally supplied by the bounty of their most 
Catholic Majesties, have been withheld since Ferdi- 
nand's death, and the interests of these establishments 
being thus closely involved in the destinies of Spain, 
it is not wonderful that the brethren should be a little 
more knowing in Spanish affairs, than in other branches 
of history. Besides, a large proportion of the monks 
were natives of the Peninsula ; to these, I remember, 
Mysseri's familiarity with the Spanish language, and 
character was a source of immense delight ; they were 
always gathering around him, and it seemed to me that 
they treasured like gold the few Castilian words which 
he deigned to spare them. 

Christianity permits, and sanctions the drinking of 
wine, and of all the holy brethren in Palestine, there 
are none who hold fast to this gladsome rite so strenu- 
ously as the monks of Damascus ; not that they are 
more zealous Christians than the rest of their fellows 
in the Holy Land, but that they have better wine. 
Whilst I was at Damascus, I had my quarters at the 
Franciscan convent there, and very soon after my 
arrival I asked one of the monks to let me know 
something of the spots which deserved to be seen : 
I made my inquiry in reference to the associations 



THE MONKS OF THE HOLY LAND 101 



with which the city had been hallowed by the sojourn, 
and adventures of St. Paul. " There is nothing in all 
Damascus," said the good man, "half so well worth 
seeing as our cellars," and forthwith he invited me to 
go, see, and admire the long ranges of liquid treasure 
which he and his brethren had laid up for themselves 
on earth. And these, I soon found, were not as the 
treasures of the miser that lie in unprofitable disuse, 
for day by day, and hour by hour, the golden juice 
ascended from the dark recesses of the cellar to the 
uppermost brains of the monks ; dear old fellows ! in 
the midst of that solemn land, their Christian laughter 
rang loudly, and merrily — their eyes flashed with un- 
ceasing bonfires, and their heavy woollen petticoats 
could no more weigh down the springiness of their 
paces, than the nominal gauze of a danseuse can clog 
her bounding step. 

The monks do a world of good in their way, and 
there can be no doubting that previously to the arrival 
of Bishop Alexander, with his numerous young family, 
and his pretty English nursemaids, they were the chief 
Propagandists of Christianity in Palestine. My old 
friends of the Franciscan convent at Jerusalem, some 
time since, gave proof of their goodness by delivering 
themselves up to the peril of death for the sake of 
Duty. When I was their guest, they were forty, I be- 
lieve, in number, and I don't recollect that there was 
one of them whom I should have looked upon as a 
desirable life-holder of any property to which I might 
be entitled in expectancy. Yet these forty were re- 
duced in a few days to nineteen ; the Plague was the 
messenger that summoned them to a taste of real death, 
but the circumstances under which they perished are 
rather curious, and though I have no authority for the 
story except an Italian newspaper, I harbour no doubt 
of its truth, for the facts were detailed with minuteness, 
and strictly corresponded with all that I knew of the 
poor fellows to whom they related. 

It was about three months after the time of my 



102 



EOTHEN 



leaving Jerusalem, that the Plague set his spotted foot 
on the Holy City. The monks felt great alarm ; they 
did not shrink from their duty, but for its performance 
they chose a plan most sadly well fitted for bringing 
down upon them the very death which they were 
striving to ward off. They imagined themselves almost 
safe, so long as they remained within their walls ; but 
then it was quite needful that the Catholic Christians 
of the place, who had always looked to the convent for 
the supply of their spiritual wants, should receive the 
aids of religion in the hour of death. A single monk, 
therefore, was chosen either by lot, or by some other 
fair appeal to Destiny ; being thus singled out, he was 
to go forth into the plague-stricken city, and to perform 
with exactness his priestly duties ; then he was to re- 
turn, not to the interior of the Convent, for fear of in- 
fecting his brethren, but to a detached building, (which 
I remember) belonging to the establishment, but at 
some little distance from the inhabited rooms ; he was 
provided with a bell, and at a certain hour in the morn- 
ing he was ordered to ring it, if he could: but if no 
sound was heard at the appointed time, then knew his 
brethren that he was either delirious, or dead, and 
another martyr was sent forth to take his place. In 
this way twenty-one of the monks were carried off. 
One cannot well fail to admire the steadiness with 
which the dismal scheme was carried through ; but if 
there be any truth in the notion, that disease may be 
invited by a frightening imagination, it is difficult to 
conceive a more dangerous plan than that which was 
chosen by these poor fellows. The anxiety with which 
they must have expected each day the sound of the 
bell, — the silence that reigned instead of it, and then 
the drawing of the lots, (the odds against death being 
one point lower than yesterday) and the going forth of 
the newly doomed man — all this must have widened 
the gulf that opens to the shades below ; when his 
victim had already suffered so much of mental torture, 
it was but easy work for big, bullying Pestilence to 



THE MONKS OF THE HOLY LAND 103 



follow a forlorn monk from the beds of the dying, and 
wrench away his life from him, as he lay all alone in 
an outhouse. 

In most, I believe in all of the Holy Land convents, 
there are two personages so strangely raised above 
their brethren in all that dignifies humanity, that their 
bearing the same habit — their dwelling under the same 
roof — their worshipping the same God, (consistent as 
all this is with the spirit of their religion) yet strikes 
the mind with a sense of wondrous incongruity ; the 
men I speak of are the " Padre Superiore," and the 
" Padre Missionario." The former is the supreme and 
absolute governor of the establishment, over which he 
is appointed to rule ; the latter is entrusted with the 
more active of the spiritual duties which attach to the 
Pilgrim Church. He is the shepherd of the good 
Catholic flock whose pasture is prepared in the midst 
of Mussulmans, and schismatics — he keeps the light of 
the true faith ever vividly before their eyes — reproves 
their vices — supports them in their good resolves — 
consoles them in their afflictions, and teaches them to 
hate the Greek church. Such are his labours, and 
you may conceive that great tact must be needed for 
conducting with success the spiritual interests of the 
church under circumstances so odd as those which 
surround it in Palestine. 

But the position of the Padre Superiore is still more 
delicate ; he is almost unceasingly in treaty with the 
powers that be, and the worldly prosperity of the 
establishment over which he presides, is in great 
measure dependent upon the extent of diplomatic skill 
which he can employ in his favour. I know not from 
what class of churchmen these personages are chosen, 
for there is a mystery attending their origin, and the 
circumstance of their being stationed in these convents, 
which Rome does not suffer to be penetrated : I have 
heard it said that they are men of great note, and 
perhaps, of too high ambition in the Catholic Hierarchy, 
who having fallen under the grave censure of the 



EOTHEN 



Church, are banished for fixed periods to these distant 
monasteries. I believe that the term during which 
they are condemned to remain in the Holy Land, is 
from eight to twelve years. By the natives of the 
country, as well as by the rest of the brethren, they 
are looked upon as superior beings ; and rightly too, 
for nature seems to have crowned them in her own 
true way. 

The chief of the Jerusalem convent was a noble 
creature ; his worldly, and spiritual authority seemed 
to have surrounded him, as it were, with a kind of 
" Court," and the manly gracefulness of his bearing, 
did honour to the throne which he filled. There were 
no lords of the bedchamber, and no gold sticks, and 
stones in waiting, yet every body who approached him 
looked as though he were being "presented" — every 
interview which he granted wore the air of an " audi- 
ence ;" the brethren as often as they came near, bowed 
low, and kissed his hand, and if he went out, the 
Catholics of the place that hovered about the convent, 
would crowd around him with devout affection, and 
almost scramble for the blessing which his touch could 
give. He bore his honours all serenely, as though 
calmly conscious of his power, to " bind, and to loose." 



CHAPTER XI 



FROM NAZARETH TO TIBERIAS 

NEITHER old " Sacred" 1 himself, nor any of his 
helpers, knew the road which I meant to take 
from Nazareth to the Sea of Galilee, and from thence 
to Jerusalem, so I was forced to add another to my 
party, by hiring a guide. The associations of Nazareth, 
as well as my kind feeling towards the hospitable 
monks whose guest I had been, inclined me to set at 
nought the advice which I had received against em- 
ploying Christians. I accordingly engaged a lithe, 
active young Nazarene, who was recommended to me 
by the monks, and who affected to be familiar with the 
line of country through which I intended to pass. My 
disregard of the popular prejudice against Christians 
was not justified in this particular instance, by the 
result of my choice. This you will see by and by. 

I passed by Cana, and the house in which the water 
had been turned into wine — I came to the field in which 
our Saviour had rebuked the Scotch Sabbath -keepers 
, of that period, by suffering his disciples to pluck corn 
on the Lord's day ; I rode over the ground on which 
the fainting multitude had been fed, and they shewed 
me some massive fragments — the relics, they said, of 
that wondrous banquet, now turned into stone. The 
petrifaction was most complete. 

I ascended the height on which our Lord was stand- 
ing when he wrought the miracle. The hill was lofty 
enough to shew me the fairness of the land on all sides, 

,1 Shereef. 



io6 



EOTHEN 



but I have an ancient love for the mere features of a 
lake, and so forgetting all else when I reached the 
summit, I looked away eagerly to the Eastward. There 
she lay, the Sea of Galilee. Less stern than Wast- 
water — less fair than gentle Windermere, she had still 
the winning ways of an English lake ; she caught from 
the smiling heavens unceasing light, and changeful 
phases of beauty, and with all this brightness on her 
face, she yet clung so fondly to the dull he-looking 
mountain at her side, as though she would 

" Soothe him with her finer fancies, 
Touch him with her lighter thought." 1 

If one might judge of men's real thoughts by their 
writings, it would seem that there are people who can 
visit an interesting locality, and follow up continuously 
the exact train of thought which ought to be suggested 
by the historical associations of the place. A person 
of this sort can go to Athens, and think of nothing later 
than the age of Pericles — can live with the Scipios as 
long as he stays in Rome — can go up in a balloon, 
and think how resplendently in former times the now 
vacant, and desolate air was peopled with angels — how 
prettily it was crossed at intervals by the rounds of 
Jacob's ladder ! I don't possess this power at all : it is 
only by snatches, and for few moments together that I 
can really associate a place with its proper history. 

"There at Tiberias, and along this western shore 
towards the North, and upon the bosom too of the lake, 

our Saviour and his disciples " away flew those 

recollections, and my mind strained Eastward, because 
that that farthest shore was the end of the world that 
belongs to man the dweller — the beginning of the other 
and veiled world that is held by the strange race, whose 
life (like the pastime of Satan) is a " going to and fro 
upon the face of the earth." From those gray hills 
right away to the gates of Bagdad stretched forth the 



3 Tennyson. 



FROM NAZARETH TO TIBERIAS 107 



mysterious "Desert" — not a pale, void, sandy tract, 
but a land abounding in rich pastures — a land without 
cities or towns, without any "respectable" people, or 
any " respectable things," yet yielding its eighty thou- 
sand cavalry to the beck of a few old men. But once 
more — "Tiberias — the plain of Gennesareth — the very 
earth on which I stood — that the deep, low tones of 
the Saviour's voice should have gone forth into Eternity 
from out of the midst of these hills, and these vallies !" 
— Ay, Ay, but yet again the calm face of the Lake was 
uplifted, and smiled upon my eyes with such familiar 
gaze, that the " deep low tones " were hushed — the 
listening multitudes all passed away, and instead there 
came to me a dear old memory from over the seas in 
England — a memory sweeter than veriest Gospel to 
that poor, wilful mortal, me. 

I went to Tiberias, and soon got afloat upon the 
water. In the evening I took up my quarters in the 
Catholic Church, and, the building being large enough, 
the whole of my party were admitted to the benefit of 
the same shelter. With portmanteaus, and carpet 
bags, and books, and maps, and fragrant tea, Mysseri 
soon made me a home on the southern side of the 
church. One of old Shereefs helpers was an enthusi- 
astic Catholic, and was greatly delighted at having so 
sacred a lodging. He lit up the altar with a number 
of tapers, and when his preparations were complete, he 
began to perform his orisons in the strangest manner 
imaginable ; his lips muttered the prayers of the Latin 
Church, but he bowed himself down, and laid his fore- 
head to the stones beneath him, after the manner of a 
Mussulman. The universal aptness of a religious 
system for all stages of civilization, and for all sorts, 
and conditions of men, well befits its claim of divine 
origin. She is of all nations, and of all times, that 
wonderful Church of Rome ! 

Tiberias is one of the four holy cities, 1 according to 

1 The other three cities held holy by Jews are Jerusalem, 
Hebron, and Safet. 



io8 



EOTHEN 



the Talmud, and it is from this place, or the immediate 
neighbourhood of it, that the Messiah is to arise. 

Except at Jerusalem, never think of attempting to 
sleep in a " holy city." Old Jews from all parts of the 
world go to lay their bones upon the sacred soil, and as 
these people never return to their homes, it follows that 
any domestic vermin which they may bring with them 
are likely to become permanently resident, so that the 
population is continually increasing. No recent census 
had been taken when I was at Tiberias, but I know that 
the congregation of fleas which attended at my church 
alone, must have been something enormous. It was a 
carnal, self-seeking congregation, wholly inattentive to 
the service which was going on, and devoted to the one 
object of having my blood. The fleas of all nations 
were there. The smug, steady, importunate flea from 
Holywell street — the pert, jumping "puce" from hungry 
France — the wary, watchful "pulce" with his poisoned 
stiletto — the vengeful " pulga " of Castile with his ugly 
knife — the German " floh " with his knife, and fork — 
insatiate — not rising from table — whole swarms from 
all the Russias, and Asiatic hordes unnumbered — all 
these were there, and all rejoiced in one great inter- 
national feast. I could no more defend myself against 
my enemies, than if I had been " pain a discretion " in 
the hands of a French patriot, or English gold in the 
claws of a Pennsylvanian Quaker. After passing a 
night like this, you are glad to pick up the wretched 
remains of your body, long, long before morning dawns. 
Your skin is scorched — your temples throb — your lips 
feel withered and dried — your burning eye-balls are 
screwed inwards against the brain. You have no hope 
but only in the saddle, and the freshness of the morn- 
ing air. 



CHAPTER XII 



MY FIRST BIVOUAC 

THE course of the Jordan is from the north to the 
south, and in that direction, with very little of 
devious winding, it carries the shining waters of Galilee 
straight down into the solitudes of the Dead Sea. 
Speaking roughly, the river in that meridian, is a 
boundary between the people living under roofs, and 
the tented tribes that wander on the farther side. And 
so, as I went down in my way from Tiberias towards 
Jerusalem, along the western bank of the stream, my 
thinking all propended to the ancient world of herds- 
men, and warriors, that lay so close over my bridle arm. 

If a man, and an Englishman, be not born of his 
mother with a natural Chifmey-bit in his mouth, there 
comes to him a time for loathing the wearisome ways 
of society — a time for not liking tamed people — a time 
for not dancing quadrilles — not sitting in pews — a time 
for pretending that Milton, and Shelley, and all sorts 
of mere dead people, were greater in death than the 
first living Lord of the Treasury — a time in short for 
scoffing and railing — for speaking lightly of the very 
opera, and all our most cherished institutions. It is 
from nineteen, to two or three and twenty perhaps, 
that this war of the man against men is like to be 
waged most sullenly. You are yet in this smiling 
England, but you find yourself wending away to the 
dark sides of her mountains, — climbing the dizzy crags, 
— exulting in the fellowship of mists, and clouds, and 
watching the storms how they gather, or proving the 



no 



EOTHEN 



mettle of your mare upon the broad, and dreary downs, 
because that you feel congenially with the yet un- 
parcelled earth. A little while you are free, and 
unlabelled, like the ground that you compass, but 
Civilization is coming, and coming ; you, and your 
much-loved waste lands will be surely enclosed, and 
sooner, or later, you will be brought down to a state of 
utter usefulness — the ground will be curiously sliced 
into acres, and roods, and perches, and you, for all you 
sit so smartly in your saddle, you will be caught — you 
will be taken up from travel, as a colt from grass, to be 
trained, and tried, and matched, and run. All this in 
time, but first come continental tours, and the moody 
longing for Eastern travel : the downs, and the moors 
of England can hold you no longer ; with larger stride 
you burst away from these slips, and patches of free 
land — you thread your path through the crowds of 
Europe, and at last on the banks of Jordan, you joy- 
fully know that you are upon the very frontier of all 
accustomed respectabilities. There, on the other side 
of the river, (you can swim it with one arm,) there 
reigns the people that will be like to put you to death 
for not being a vagrant, for not being a robber, for not 
being armed, and houseless. There is comfort in that 
— health, comfort, and strength to one who is dying 
from very weariness of that poor, dear, middle-aged, 
deserving, accomplished, pedantic, and pains-taking 
governess Europe. 

I had ridden for some hours along the right bank of 
Jordan, when I came to the Djesr el Medjame, (an old 
Roman bridge, I believe,) which crossed the river. 
My Nazarene guide was riding ahead of the party, and 
now, to my surprise and delight, he turned leftwards, 
and led on over the bridge. I knew that the true road 
to Jerusalem must be mainly by the right bank of 
Jordan, but I supposed that my guide was crossing the 
bridge at this spot in order to avoid some bend in the 
river, and that he knew of a ford lower down by which 
we should regain the western bank. I made no 



MY FIRST BIVOUAC 



in 



question about the road, for I was but too glad to set my 
horse's hoofs upon the land of the wandering tribes. 
None of my party, except the Nazarene, knew the 
country. On we went through rich pastures upon the 
Eastern side of the water. I looked for the expected 
bend of the river, but far as I could see, it kept a 
straight southerly course ; I still left my guide un- 
questioned. 

The Jordan is not a perfectly accurate boundary 
betwixt roofs and tents, for soon after passing the 
bridge, I came upon a cluster of huts. Some time 
afterwards, the guide, upon being closely questioned by 
my servants confessed that the village which we had 
left behind, was the last that we should see, but he 
declared that he knew a spot at which we should find 
an encampment of friendly Bedouins, who would receive 
me with all hospitality. I had long determined not to 
leave the East without seeing something of the wander- 
ing tribes, but I had looked forward to this as a 
pleasure to be found in the Desert between El Arish 
and Egypt — I had no idea that the Bedouins on the 
East of Jordan were accessible. My delight was so 
great at the near prospect of bread, and salt in the 
tent of an Arab warrior, that I wilfully allowed my 
guide to go on, and mislead me ; I saw that he was 
taking me out of the straight route towards Jerusalem, 
and was drawing me into the midst of the Bedouins, 
but the idea of his betraying me, seemed (I know not 
why) so utterly absurd, that I could not entertain it for 
a moment ; I fancied it possible that the fellow had 
taken me out of my route in order to attempt some 
little mercantile enterprize with the tribe for which he 
was seeking, and I was glad of the opportunity which 
I might thus gain of coming in contact with the 
wanderers. 

Not long after passing the village a horseman met 
us ; it appeared that some of the cavalry of Ibrahim 
Pasha had crossed the river, for the sake of the rich 
pastures on the eastern bank, and that this man was 



112 



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one of the troopers ; he stopped, and saluted ; he was 
obviously surprised at meeting an unarmed, or half- 
armed cavalcade, and at last fairly told us that we were 
on the wrong side of the river, and that if we proceeded, 
we must lay our account with falling amongst robbers. 
All this while, and throughout the day, my Nazarene 
kept well a-head of the party, and was constantly up 
in his stirrups, straining forward, and searching the 
distance for some objects which still remained unseen. 

For the rest of the day we saw no human being ; 
we pushed on eagerly in the hope of coming up with 
the Bedouins before nightfall. Night came, and we 
still went on in our way, till about ten o'clock. Then the 
thorough darkness of the night and the weariness of 
Our beasts, (which had already done two good days 
journey in one) forced us to determine upon coming 
to a stand-still. Upon the heights to the eastward we 
saw lights ; these shone from caves on the mountain- 
side, inhabited, as the Nazarene told us, by rascals of 
a low sort — not real Bedouins — men whom we might 
frighten into harmlessness, but from whom there was 
no willing hospitality to be expected. 

We heard at a little distance the brawling of a 
rivulet, and on the banks of this it was determined to 
establish our bivouac ; we soon found the stream, and 
following its course for a few yards came to a spot 
which was thought to be fit for our purpose. It was a 
sharply cold night in February, and when I dismounted, 
I found myself standing upon some wet, rank herbage 
that promised ill for the comfort of our resting place. 
I had bad hopes of a fire, for the pitchy darkness of 
the night was a great obstacle to any successful search 
for fuel, and besides the boughs, of trees or bushes, 
would be so full of sap in this early spring, that they 
would not be easily persuaded to burn. However, we 
were not likely to submit to a dark, and cold bivouac, 
without an effort, and my fellows groped forward 
through the darkness, J till after advancing a few paces 
they were happily stopped by a complete barrier of 



MY FIRST BIVOUAC 113 



dead, prickly bushes. Before our swords could be 
drawn to reap this glorious harvest, it was found to 
our surprise, that the precious fuel was already hewn, 
and strewed along the ground in a thick mass. A 
spot fit for the fire was found with some difficulty, for 
the earth was moist, and the grass high, and rank. At 
last there was a clicking of flint, and steel, and pre- 
sently there stood out from darkness one of the tawny 
faces of my muleteers, bent down to near the ground, 
and suddenly lit up by the glowing of the spark, which 
he courted with careful breath. Before long there was 
a particle of dry fibre, or leaf, that kindled to a tiny 
flame ; then another was lit from that, and then another. 
Then small, crisp twigs, little bigger than bodkins, 
were laid athwart the growing fire. The swelling 
cheeks of the muleteer laid level with the earth, blew 
tenderly at first, and then more boldly upon the young 
flame, which was daintily nursed and fed, and fed more 
plentifully when it gained good strength. At last a 
whole armful of dry bushes was piled up over the fire, 
and presently with a loud, cheery cracking, and crack- 
ling, a royal tall blaze shot up from the earth, and 
shewed me once more the shapes, and faces of my 
men, and the dim outlines of the horses, and mules, that 
stood grazing hard by. 

My servants busied themselves in unpacking the 
baggage, as though we had arrived at an hotel — She- 
reef and his helpers unsaddled their cattle. We had 
left Tiberias without the slightest idea that we were to 
make our way to Jerusalem along the desolate side of 
the Jordan, and my servants (generally provident in 
those matters) had brought with them only, I think, 
some unleavened bread, and a rocky fragment of goat's 
milk cheese. These treasures were produced. Tea, 
and the contrivances for making it, were always a 
standing part of my baggage. My men gathered in 
circle around the fire. The Nazarene was in a false 
position, from having misled us so strangely, and he 
would have shrunk back, poor devil, into the cold and 

I 



H4 



EOTHEN 



outer darkness, but I made him draw near, and share 
the luxuries of the night. My quilt, and my pelisse 
were spread, and the rest of my party had all their 
capotes, or pelisses, or robes of some sort, which 
furnished their couches. The men gathered in circle, 
some kneeling, some'sitting, some lying reclined around 
our common hearth. Sometimes on one, sometimes 
on another, the flickering light would glare more 
fiercely. Sometimes it was the good Shereef that 
seemed the foremost, as he sat with venerable beard, 
the image of manly piety — unknowing of all geography, 
unknowing where he was, or whither he might go, but 
trusting in the goodness of God, and the clenching 
power of fate, and the good star of the Englishman. 
Sometimes like marble, the classic face of the Greek 
Mysseri would catch the sudden light, and then again 
by turns the ever-perturbed Dthemetri with his odd 
Chinaman's eyes, and bristling, terrier-like moustache 
shone forth illustrious. 

I always liked the men who attended me on these 
Eastern travels, for they were all of them brave, cheery- 
hearted fellows, and although their following my career 
brought upon them a pretty large share of those toils, 
and hardships which are so much more amusing to 
gentlemen than to servants, yet not one of them ever 
uttered, or hinted a syllable of complaint, or even 
affected to put on an air of resignation ; I always liked 
them, but never perhaps so much as when they were 
thus grouped together under the light of the bivouac 
fire. I felt towards them as my comrades, rather than 
as my servants, and took delight in breaking bread 
with them, and merrily passing the cup. 

The love of tea is a glad source of fellow-feeling 
between the Englishman and the Asiatic ; in Persia it 
is drunk by all, and although it is a luxury that is 
rarely within the reach of the Osmanlees, there are 
few of them who do not know, and love the blessed 
" tchai." Our camp-kettle filled from the brook hummed 
doubtfully for a while, — then busily bubbled under the 



MY FIRST BIVOUAC 115 



sidelong glare of the flames — cups clinked and rattled 
— the fragrant steam ascended, and soon this little 
circlet in the wilderness grew warm, and genial as my 
lady's drawing-room. 

And after this there came the tchibouque — great 
comforter of those that are hungry, and way-worn. 
And it has this virtue — it helps to destroy the gene and 
awkwardness which one sometimes feels at being in 
company with one's dependants ; for whilst the amber 
is at your lips, there is nothing ungracious in your re- 
maining silent, or speaking pithily in short inter-whiff 
sentences. And for us that night there was pleasant 
and plentiful matter of talk ; for the where we should 
be on the morrow, and the wherewithal we should be 
fed — whether by some ford we should regain the 
western banks of Jordan, or find bread, and salt under 
the tents of a wandering tribe, or whether we should 
fall into the hands of the Philistines, and so come to 
see Death — the last, and greatest of all "the fine 
sights" that there be — these were questionings not 
dull, nor wearisome to us, for we were all concerned in 
the answers. And it was not an all-imagined morrow 
that we probed with our sharp guesses, for the lights of 
those low Philistines — the men of the caves still hung 
over our heads, and we knew by their yells that the fire 
of our bivouac had shewn us. 

At length we thought it well to seek for sleep. Our 
plans were laid for keeping up a good watch through 
the night. My quilt, and my pelisse, and my cloak 
were spread out so that I might lie spoke wise, with my 
feet towards the central fire. I wrapped my limbs 
daintily round, and gave myself positive orders to sleep 
like a veteran soldier. But I found that my attempt to 
sleep upon the earth that God gave me was more new, 
and strange than I had fancied it. I had grown used 
to the scene which was before me whilst I was sitting, 
or reclining by the side of the fire, but now that I laid 
myself down at length, it was the deep black mystery 
of the heavens that hung over my eyes — not an earthly 



n6 



EOTHEN 



thing in the way from my own very forehead right up 
to the end of all space. I grew proud of my boundless 
bedchamber. I might have "found sermons" in all 
this greatness, (if I had I should surely have slept) but 
such was not then my way. If this cherished Self of 
mine had built the Universe, I should have dwelt with 
delight on the " wonders of creation." As it was, I felt 
rather the vain-glory of my promotion from out of mere 
rooms, and houses into the midst of that grand, dark, 
infinite palace. 

And then, too, my head, far from the fire, was in cold 
latitudes, and it seemed to me strange that I should be 
lying so still, and passive, whilst the sharp night breeze 
walked free over my cheek, and the cold damp clung 
to my hair, as though my face grew in the earth, and 
must bear with the footsteps of the wind, and the fall- 
ing of the dew, as meekly as the grass of the field. 
Besides, I got puzzled, and distracted by having to 
endure heat, and cold at the same time, for I was 
always considering whether my feet were not over- 
devilled, and whether my face was not too well iced. 
And so when from time to time the watch quietly, and 
gently kept up the languishing fire, he seldom, I think, 
was unseen to my restless eyes. Yet, at last, when 
they called me, and said that the morn would soon be 
dawning, I rose from a state of half-oblivion, not much 
unlike to sleep, though sharply qualified by a sort of 
vegetable's consciousness of having been growing still 
colder, and colder, for many, and many an hour. 



CHAPTER XIII 



THE DEAD SEA 

THE gray light of the morning shewed us for the first 
time, the ground which we had chosen for our 
resting place. We found that we had bivouacked upon 
a little patch of barley, plainly belonging to the men 
of the caves. The dead bushes which we found so 
happily placed in readiness for our fire, had been strewn 
as a fence for the protection of the little crop. This 
was the only cultivated spot of ground which we had 
seen for many a league, and I was rather sorry to find 
that our night fire, and our cattle had spread so much 
ruin upon this poor solitary slip of corn land. 

The saddling, and loading of our beasts, was a work 
which generally took nearly an hour, and before this 
was half over, day light came. We could now see the 
men of the caves. They collected in a body, amount- 
ing, I should think, to nearly fifty, and rushed down 
towards our quarters with fierce shouts, and yells. 
But the nearer they came, the slower they went ; their 
shouts grew less resolute in tone, and soon ceased 
altogether. The fellows advanced to a thicket within 
thirty yards of us, and behind this "took up their 
position." My men without premeditation did exactly 
that which was best ; they kept steadily to their work 
of loading the beasts without fuss, or hurry, and whether 
it was that they instinctively felt the wisdom of keeping 
quiet, or that they merely obeyed the natural inclination 
to silence, which one feels in the early morning — I 
cannot tell, but I know that except when they exchanged 



n8 



EOTHEN 



a syllable or two relative to the work they were about, 
not a word was said. I now believe, that this quietness 
of our party created an undefined terror in the minds 
of the cave-holders, and scared them from coming on ; 
it gave them a notion that we were relying on some 
resources which they knew not of. Several times the 
fellows tried to lash themselves into a state of excite- 
ment which might do instead of pluck. They would 
raise a great shout, and sway forward in a dense body 
from behind the thicket ; but when they saw that their 
bravery, thus gathered to a head, did not even suspend 
the strapping of a portmanteau, or the tying of a hat- 
box, their shout lost its spirit, and the whole mass was 
irresistibly drawn back like a wave receding from the 
x shore. 

These attempts at an onset were repeated several 
times, but always with the same result ; I remained 
under the apprehension of an attack for more than half 
an hour, and it seemed to me that the work of packing, 
and loading, had never been done so slowly. I felt 
inclined to tell my fellows to make their best speed, 
but just as I was going to speak, I observed that every 
one was doing his duty already ; I therefore held my 
peace, and said not a word, 'till at last Mysseri led up 
my horse, and asked me if I were ready to mount. 

We all marched off without hindrance. 

After some time, we came across a party of Ibrahim's 
cavalry, which had bivouacked at no great distance 
from us. The knowledge that such a force was in the 
neighbourhood may have conduced to the forbearance 
of the cave-holders. 

We saw a scraggy looking fellow nearly black, and 
wearing nothing but a cloth round the loins ; he was 
tending flocks. Afterwards I came up with another of 
these goat-herds, whose helpmate was with him. They 
gave us some goat's milk, a welcome present. I pitied 
the poor devil of a goat-herd for having such a very 
plain wife. I spend an enormous quantity of pity upon 
that particular form of human misery. 



THE DEAD SEA 



119 



About mid-day I began to examine my map, and to 
question my guide, who at last fell on his knees, and 
confessed that he knew nothing of the country in which 
we were. I was thus thrown upon my own resources, 
and calculating that on the preceding day, we had 
nearly performed a two days' journey, I concluded that 
the Dead Sea must be near. In this I was right, for 
at about 3 or 4 o'clock in the afternoon, I caught a first 
sight of its dismal face. 

I went on, and came near to those waters of Death ; 
they stretched deeply into the southern desert, and 
before me, and all around, as far away as the eye could 
follow, blank hills piled high over hills, pale, yellow, 
and naked, walled up in her tomb for ever, the dead, 
and damned Gomorrah. There was no fly that 
hummed in the forbidden air, but instead a deep still- 
ness — no grass grew from the earth — no weed peered 
through the void sand, but in mockery of all life, there 
were trees borne down by Jordan in some ancient 
flood, and these grotesquely planted upon the forlorn 
shore, spread out their grim skeleton arms all scorched, 
and charred to blackness, by the heats of the long, silent 
years. 

I now struck off towards the debouchure of the river ; 
but I found that the country, though seemingly quite 
flat, was intersected by deep ravines, which did not 
shew themselves until nearly approached. For some 
time my progress was much obstructed ; but at last I 
came across a track which led towards the river, and 
which might, as I hoped, bring me to a ford. I found, 
in fact, when I came to the river's side, that the track 
reappeared upon the opposite banks, plainly shewing 
that the stream had been fordable at this place. Now, 
however, in consequence of the late rains, the river was 
quite impracticable for baggage horses. A body of 
waters, about equal to the Thames at Eton, but con- 
fined to a narrower channel, poured down in a current 
so swift and heavy, that the idea of passing with laden 
baggage horses was utterly forbidden. I could have 



120 



EOTHEN 



swum across myself, and I might, perhaps, have 
succeeded in swimming a horse over. But this would 
have been useless, because in such case I must have 
abandoned, not only my baggage, but all my attendants, 
for none of them were able to swim, and without that 
resource, it would have been madness for them to rely 
upon the swimming of their beasts across such a 
powerful stream. I still hoped, however, that there 
might be a chance of passing the river at the point of 
its actual junction with the Dead Sea, and I therefore 
went on in that direction. 

Night came upon us whilst labouring across gullies, 
and sandy mounds, and we were obliged to come to a 
stand-still quite suddenly, upon the very edge of a 
precipitous descent. Every step towards the Dead 
Sea had brought us into a country more and more 
dreary ; and this sand-hill, which we were forced to 
choose for our resting place, was dismal enough. A 
few slender blades of grass, which here and there singly 
pierced the sand, mocked bitterly the hunger of our 
jaded beasts, and with our small remaining fragment 
of goat's milk rock, by way of supper, we were not 
much better off than our horses ; we wanted, too, the 
great requisite of a cheery bivouac — fire. Moreover, 
the spot on which we had been so suddenly brought to 
a stand-still was relatively high, and unsheltered, and 
the night wind blew swiftly, and cold. 

The next morning I reached the debouchure of the 
Jordan, where I had hoped to find a bar of sand that 
might render its passage possible. The river, however, 
rolled its eddying waters fast down to the " sea," in a 
strong, deep stream that shut out all hope of crossing. 
It was always said that no vegetation could live in the 
neighbourhood of the Dead Sea, but now I began to 
look upon my party and myself as forming a very fine 
"plantation;" for never in the hunting sense of the 
term were men more thoroughly " planted." 

It now seemed necessary either to construct a raft of 
some kind, or else to retrace my steps, and remount' 



THE DEAD SEA 



121 



the banks of the Jordan. I had once happened to give 
some attention to the subject of military bridges — a 
branch of military science which includes the con- 
struction of rafts, and contrivances of the like sort, and 
I should have been very proud indeed, if I could have 
carried my party, and my baggage across by dint 
of any idea gathered from Sir Howard Douglas, or 
Robinson Crusoe. But we were all faint, and languid 
from want of food, and besides there were no materials. 
Higher up the river there were bushes, and river plants, 
but nothing like timber, and the cord with which my 
baggage was tied to the pack-saddles amounted alto- 
gether to a very small quantity — not nearly enough to 
haul any sort of craft across the stream. 

And now it was, if I remember rightly, that Dthemetri 
.uibmitted to me a plan for putting to death the 
Nazarene, whose misguidance had been the cause of 
our difficulties. There was something fascinating in 
this suggestion, for the slaying of the guide was of 
course easy enough, and would look like an act of what 
pol ticians call "vigour." If it were only to become 
known to my friends in England that I had calmly 
killed a fellow creature for taking me out of my way, I 
might remain perfectly quiet, and tranquil for all the 
rest of my days, quite free from the danger of being 
considered "slow;" I might ever after live on upon 
my reputation like " single-speech Hamilton" in the 

last century, or " single-sin " in this, without being 

obliged to take the trouble of doing any more harm in 
the world. This was a great temptation to an indolent 
person, but the motive was not strengthened by any 
sincere feeling of anger with the Nazarene : whilst the 
question of his life, and death was debated, he was 
riding in front of our party, and there was something 
in the anxious writhing of his supple limbs that seemed 
to express a sense of his false position, and struck me 
as highly comic ; I had no crotchet at that time against 
the punishment of the death, but I was unused to 
jlood, and the proposed victim looked so thoroughly 



122 



EOTHEN 



capable of enjoying life, (if he could only get to the 
other side of the river) that I thought it would be hard 
for him to die, merely $n order to give me a character 
for energy. Acting on the result of these considerations, 
and reserving to myself a free, and unfettered discretion 
to have the poor villain shot at any future moment, I 
magnanimously decided that for the present he should 
live, and not die. 

I bathed in the Dead Sea. The ground covered by 
the water, sloped so gradually, that I was not only 
forced to "sneak in," but to walk through the water 
nearly a quarter of a mile before I could get out of my 
depth. When at last I was able to attempt a dive, the 
salts held in solution made my eyes smart so sharply, 
that the pain which I thus suffered acceding to the weak- 
ness occasioned by want of food, made me giddy, and 
faint for some moments, but I soon grew better. I 
knew beforehand the impossibility of sinking in this 
buoyant water, but I was surprised to find that I could 
not swim at my accustomed pace ; my legs, and feet 
were lifted so high and dry out of the lake, that my 
stroke was baffled, and I found myself kicking against 
the thin air, instead of the dense fluid upon which I 
was swimming. The water is perfectly bright, and 
clear ; its taste detestable. After finishing my attempts 
at swimming, and diving, I took some time in regain- 
ing the shore, and before I began to dress, I found 
that the sun had already evaporated the water which 
clung to me, and that my skin was thickly encrusted 
with sulphate of magnesia. 1 



1 [Altered to " salts " in the third edition.] 



CHAPTER XIV 



THE BLACK TENTS 

MY steps were reluctantly turned towards the north. 
I had ridden some way, and still it seemed that 
all life was fenced, and barred out from the desolate 
ground over which I was journeying. On the west 
there flowed the impassable Jordan ; on the east stood 
an endless range of barren mountains, and on the south 
lay that desert sea that knew not the plashing of an 
oar ; greatly therefore was I surprised, when suddenly 
there broke upon my ear the long, ludicrous, persever- 
ing bray of a living donkey. I was riding at this time 
some few hundred yards a-head of all my party, 
except the Nazarene, (who by a wise instinct kept 
closer to me than to Dthemetri) and I instantly went 
forward in the direction of the sound, for I fancied that 
where there were donkeys, there too most surely would 
be men. The ground on all sides of me seemed 
thoroughly void and lifeless, but at last I got down into 
a hollow, and presently a sudden turn brought me 
within thirty yards of an Arab encampment. The low, 
black tents which I had so long lusted to see were 
right before me, and they were all teeming with live 
Arabs — men, women, and children. 

I wished to have let my party behind know where I 
was, but I recollected that they would be able to trace 
me by the prints of my horse's hoofs in the sand, and 
having to do with Asiatics, I felt the danger of the 
slightest movement which might be looked upon as 
a sign of irresolution. Therefore, without looking be- 



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EOTHEN 



hind me — without looking to the right, or to the left, I 
rode straight up towards the foremost tent. Before 
this was strewed a semicircular fence of dead boughs, 
through which there was an opening opposite to the 
front of the tent. As I advanced, some twenty or thirty 
of the most uncouth looking fellows imaginable came 
forward to meet me. In their appearance they shewed 
nothing of the Bedouin blood ; they were of many 
colours, from dingy brown to jet black, and some of 
these last had much of the negro look about them. 
They were tall, powerful fellows, but awfully ugly. 
They wore nothing but the Arab shirts, confined at 
the waist by leathern belts. 

I advanced to the gap left in the fence, and at once 
alighted from my horse. The chief greeted me after 
his fashion by alternately touching first my hand and 
then his own forehead, as if he were conveying the 
virtue of the touch like a spark of electricity. Presently 
I found myself seated upon a sheep-skin, which was 
spread for me under the sacred shade of Arabian 
canvas. The tent was of a long, narrow, oblong form, 
and contained a quantity of men, women, and children 
so closely huddled together, that there was scarcely 
one of them who was not in actual contact with his 
neighbour. The moment I had taken my seat, the 
chief repeated his salutations in the most enthusiastic 
manner, and then the people having gathered densely 
about me, got hold of my unresisting hand, and passed 
it round like a claret jug for the benefit of everybody. 
The women soon brought me a wooden bowl full of 
buttermilk, and welcome indeed came the gift to my 
hungry and thirsty soul. 

After some time my party, as I had expected, came 
up, and when poor Dthemetri saw me on my sheep- 
skin, " the life and soul " of this ragamuffin party, he 
was so astounded that he even failed to check his cry 
of horror ; he plainly thought that now, at last, the 
Lord had delivered me (interpreter and all) into the 
hands of the lowest Philistines. 



THE BLACK TENTS 



Myssert carried a tobacco pouch slung at his belt, 
and as soon as its contents were known, the whole 
population of the tent began begging like spaniels for 
bits of the beloved weed. I concluded, from the abject 
manner of these people, that they could not possibly 
be thorough-bred Bedouins, and I saw, too, that they 
must be in the very last stage of misery, for poor in- 
deed is the man in these climes who cannot command 
a pipeful of tobacco. I began to think that I had 
fallen amongst thorough savages, and it seemed likely 
enough that they would gain their very first knowledge 
of civilization by ravishing, and studying the contents 
of my dearest portmanteaus, but still my impression 
was that they would hardly venture upon such an 
attempt ; I observed, indeed, that they did not offer 
me the bread and salt, which I had understood to be 
the pledges of peace amongst wandering tribes, but I 
fancied that they refrained from this act of hospitality, 
not in consequence of any hostile determination, but in 
order that the notion of robbing me might remain for 
the present an " open question." I afterwards found 
that the poor fellows had no bread to offer. They were 
literally " out at grass ; " it is true that they had a 
scanty supply of milk from goats, but they were living 
almost entirely upon certain grass stems, which were 
just in season at that time of the year. These, if not 
highly nourishing, are pleasant enough to the taste, 
and their acid juices came gratefully to thirsty lips. 



CHAPTER XV 



PASSAGE OF THE JORDAN 

AND now Dthemetri began to enter into a negotia- 
tion with my hosts for a passage over the river. 
I never interfered with my worthy Dragoman upon 
these occasions, because from my entire ignorance of 
the Arabic, I should have been quite unable to exercise 
any real control over his words, and it would have been 
silly to break the stream of his eloquence to no purpose. 
I have reason to fear, however, that he lied transcend- 
antly, and especially in representing me as the bosom 
friend of Ibrahim Pasha. The mention of that name 
produced immense agitation, and excitement, and the 
Sheik explained to Dthemetri the grounds of the infinite 
respect which he and his tribe entertained for the 
Pasha. A few weeks before Ibrahim had craftily sent 
a body of troops across the Jordan. The force went 
warily round to the foot of the mountains on the East, 
so as to cut off the retreat of this tribe, and then sur- 
rounded them as they lay encamped in the vale ; their 
camels, and indeed all their possessions worth taking, 
were carried off by the soldiery, and moreover the then 
Sheik, together with every tenth man of the tribe, was 
brought out and shot. You would think that this 
conduct on the part of the Pasha might not procure 
for his "friend" a very gracious reception amongst the 
people whom he had thus despoiled and decimated, 
but the Asiatic seems to be animated with a feeling of 
profound respect, almost bordering upon affection, for 
all who have done him any bold, and violent wrong, 



PASSAGE OF THE JORDAN 127 



and there is always too, so much of vague, and unde- 
fined apprehension mixed up with his really well- 
founded alarms, that I can see no limit to the yielding, 
and bending of his mind when it is worked upon by 
the idea of power. 

After some discussion the Arabs agreed, as I thought, 
to conduct me to a ford, and we moved on towards the 
river, followed by seventeen of the most able-bodied of 
the tribe, under the guidance of several gray-bearded 
elders, and Sheik Ali Djoubran at the head of the whole 
detachment. Upon leaving the encampment a sort of 
ceremony was performed, for the purpose it seemed, of 
ensuring, if possible, a happy result for the undertaking. 
There was an uplifting of arms, and a repeating of 
words, that sounded like formulae, but there were no 
prostrations, and I did not understand that the 
ceremony was of a religious character. The tented 
Arabs are looked upon as very bad Mahometans. 

We arrived upon the banks of the river — not at a 
ford, but at a deep and rapid part of the stream, and I 
now understood that it was the plan of these men, if 
they helped me at all, to transport me across the river 
by some species of raft. But a reaction had taken 
place in the opinions of many, and a violent dispute 
arose, upon a motion which seemed to have been made 
by some honourable member, with a view to robbery. 
The fellows all gathered together in circle, at a little 
distance from my party, and there disputed with great 
vehemence and fury, for nearly two hours. I can J t 
give a correct report of the debate, for it was held in a 
barbarous dialect of the Arabic, unknown to my 
Dragoman. I recollect, I sincerely felt at the time, 
that the arguments in favour of robbing me must have 
been almost unanswerable, and I gave great credit to 
the speakers on my side for the ingenuity, and sophistry 
which they must have shewn in maintaining the fight 
so well. 

During the discussion, I remained lying in front of 
my baggage, which had all been taken from the pack- 



128 



EOTHEN 



saddles, and placed upon the ground. I was so languid 
from want of food, that I had scarcely animation enough 
to feel as deeply interested as you would suppose, in 
the result of the discussion. I thought, however, that 
the pleasantest toys to play with, during this interval, 
were my pistols, and now and then, when I listlessly 
visited my loaded barrels with the swivel ramrods, or 
drew a sweet, musical click from my English firelocks, 
it seemed to me, that I exercised a slight, and gentle 
influence on the debate. Thanks to Ibrahim Pasha's 
terrible visitation, the men of the tribe were wholly un- 
armed, and my advantage in this respect might have 
counterbalanced in some measure the superiority of 
numbers. 

Mysseri (not interpreting in Arabic) had no duty to 
perform, and he seemed to be faint, and listless as my- 
self. Shereef looked perfectly resigned to any fate. 
But Dthemetri (faithful terrier !) was bristling with zeal, 
and watchfulness ; he could not understand the debate, 
which indeed was carried on at a distance too great to 
be easily heard, even if the language had been familiar ; 
but he was always on the alert, and now and then 
conferring with men who had straggled out of the as- 
sembly ; at last he found an opportunity of making a 
proposal, which at once produced immense sensation ; 
he offered, on my behalf, that if the tribe should bear 
themselves loyally towards me, and take my party, and 
my baggage in safety to the other bank of the river, I 
should give them a " teskeri," or written certificate of 
their good conduct, which might avail them hereafter 
in the hour of their direst need. This proposal was re- 
ceived, and instantly accepted by all the men of the 
tribe, there present, with the utmost enthusiasm. I was 
to give the men, too, a " baksheish," that is, a present 
of money, which is usually made upon the conclusion 
of any sort of treaty ; but, although the people of the 
tribe were so miserably poor, they seemed to look upon 
the pecuniary part of the arrangement as a matter quite 
trivial in comparison with the " teskeri." Indeed the 



PASSAGE OF THE JORDAN 129 



sum which Dthemetri promised them was extremely 
small, and not the slightest attempt was made to extort 
any further reward. 

The Council now broke up, and most of the men 
rushed madly towards me, and overwhelmed me with 
vehement gratulations ; they caressed my boots with 
much affection, and my hands were severely kissed. 

The Arabs now went to work in right earnest to effect 
the passage of the river. They had brought with them 
a great number of the skins which they use for carry- 
ing water in the desert ; these they filled with air, and 
fastened several of them to small boughs which they 
cut from the banks of the river. In this way they con- 
structed a raft not more than about four feet square, 
but rendered buoyant by the inflated skins which sup- 
ported it. On this a portion of my baggage was placed, 
and was firmly tied to it by the cords used on my pack- 
saddles. The little raft, with its weighty cargo, was 
then gently lifted into the water, and I had the satis- 
faction to see that it floated well. 

Twelve of the Arabs now stripped, and tied inflated 
skins to their loins ; six of the men went down into the 
river, got in front of the little raft, and pulled it off a few 
feet from the bank. The other six then dashed into 
the stream with loud shouts, and swam along after the 
raft, pushing it from behind. Off went the craft in 
capital style at first, for the stream was easy on the 
eastern side, but I saw that the tug was to come, for the 
main torrent swept round in a bend near the western 
banks of the river. 

The old men with their long gray grisly beards stood 
shouting and cheering, praying and commanding. At 
length the raft entered upon the difficult part of its 
course ; the whirling stream seized, and twisted it about, 
and then bore it rapidly downwards ; the swimmers 
flagged, and seemed to be beat in the struggle. But 
now the old men on the bank, with their rigid arms up- 
lifted straight, sent forth a cry, and a shout that tore 
the wide air into tatters, and then to make their urging 
K 



130 



EOTHEN 



yet more strong, they shreiked out the dreadful syllables 
" 'brahim Pasha ! " The swimmers, one moment before 
so blown, and so weary, found lungs to answer the cry, 
and shouting back the name of their great destroyer,, 
they dashed on through the torrent, and bore the raft; 
in safety to the western bank. 

Afterwards the swimmers returned with the raft, and 
attached to it the rest of my baggage. I took my seat 
upon the top of the cargo, and the raft thus laden, passed 
the river in the same way, and with the same struggle 
as before. The skins, however, not being perfectly air 
tight, had lost a great part of their buoyancy, so that I, 
as well as the luggage that passed on this last voyage, 
got wet in the waters of Jordan. The raft could not be 
trusted for another trip, and the rest of my party passed 
the river in a different, and (for them) much safer way. 
Inflated skins were fastened to their loins, and thus 
supported, they were tugged across by Arabs swimming 
on either side of them. The horses and mules were 
thrown into the water, and forced to swim over ; the 
poor beasts had a hard struggle for their lives in that 
swift stream, and I thought that one of the horses would 
have been drowned, for he was too weak to gain a foot- 
ing on the western bank, and the stream bore him down. 
At last, however, he swam back to the side from which 
he had come. Before dark all had passed the river 
except this one horse, and old Shereef. He, poor fellow, 
was shivering on the eastern bank, for his dread of the 
passage was so great, that he delayed it as long as he 
could, and at last it became so dark, that he was obliged 
to wait till the morning. 

I lay that night on the banks of the river, and at a 
little distance from me the Arabs made a fire, round 
which they sat in a circle. They were made most sav- 
agely happy by the tobacco with which I supplied them, 
and they had determined to make the whole night one 
smoking festival, The poor fellows had only one broken 
bowl, without any tube at all, but this morsel of a pipe 
they passed round from one to the other, allowing to 



PASSAGE OF THE JORDAN 131 



each a fixed number of whiffs. In that way they passed 
the whole night. 

The next morning old Shereef was brought across. 
It was a strange sight to see this solemn old Mussul- 
man with his shaven head, and his sacred beard, sprawl- 
ing, and puffing upon the surface of the water. When 
at last he reached the bank, the people told him that, 
by his baptism in Jordan, he had surely become a mere 
Christian. Poor Shereef ! — the holy man ! — the de- 
scendant of the Prophet ! — he was sadly hurt by the 
taunt, and the more so as he seemed to feel there was 
some foundation for it, and that he really may have 
absorbed some Christian errors. 

When all was ready for departure, I wrote the 
" Teskeri " in French, and delivered it to Sheik Ali 
Djoubran, together with the promised " baksheish ; " 
he was exceedingly grateful, and I parted upon very 
good terms from this ragged tribe. 

In two or three hours I gained Rihah, a village which 
is said to occupy the site of ancient Jericho. There 
was one building there which I observed with some 
emotion, for although it may not have been actually 
standing in the days of Jericho, it contained at this day 
a most interesting collection of — modern loaves. 

Some hours after sun-set I reached the Convent of 
Santa Saba, and there remained for the night. 



CHAPTER XVI 



TERRA SANTA 

THE enthusiasm that had glowed, or seemed to 
glow, within me, for one blessed moment, when 
I knelt by the shrine of the Blessed Virgin at Nazareth, 
was not rekindled at Jerusalem. In the stead of the 
solemn gloom, and the deep stillness that of right be- 
longed to the Holy City, there was the hum, and the 
bustle of active life. It was the "height of the season." 
The Easter ceremonies drew near ; the Pilgrims were 
flocking in from all quarters, and although their objects 
were partly at least of a religious character, yet their 
" arrivals " brought as much stir, and liveliness to the 
city, as if they had come up to marry their daughters. 

The votaries who every year crowd to the Holy 
Sepulchre are chiefly of the Greek, and Armenian 
Churches. They are not drawn into Palestine by a 
mere longing to stand upon the ground trodden by our 
Saviour, but rather they perform the pilgrimage as 
a plain duty, which is strongly inculcated by their 
religion. A very great proportion of those who belong 
to the Greek Church, contrive at some time or other, 
in the course of their lives, to achieve the enterprise. 
Many in their infancy and childhood, are brought to 
the holy sites by their parents, but those who have not 
had this advantage will often make it the main object 
of their lives to save money enough for this holy 
undertaking. 

The Pilgrims begin to arrive in Palestine some weeks 
before the Easter festival of the Greek Church ; they 



TERRA SANTA 133 

come from Egypt — from all parts of Syria— from 
Armenia, and Asia Minor—from Stamboul, from 
Roumelia, from the provinces of the Danube, and 
from all the Russias, Most of these people bring with 
them some articles of merchandise, but I myself be- 
lieve, (notwithstanding the common taunt against pil- 
grims,) that they do this rather as a mode of paying 
the expenses of their journey, than from a spirit of 
mercenary speculation ; they generally travel in families, 
for the women are of course more ardent than their 
husbands in undertaking these pious enterprises, and 
they take care to bring with them all their children, 
however young, for the efficacy of the rites does not 
depend upon the age of the votary, so that people 
whose careful mothers have obtained for them the 
benefit of the pilgrimage in early life, are saved from 
the expense, and trouble of undertaking the journey at 
a later age. The superior veneration so often excited 
by objects that are distant, and unknown, shews not 
perhaps the wrongheadedness of a man, but rather the 
transcendant power of his Imagination ; however this 
may be, and whether it is by mere obstinacy that they 
poke their way through intervening distance, or whether 
they come by the winged strength of Fancy, quite 
certainly the Pilgrims who flock to Palestine from 
the most remote homes are the people most eager 
in the enterprise, and in number too they bear a 
very high proportion to the whole mass. 

The great bulk of the Pilgrims make their way by 
sea to the port of Jaffa. A number of families will 
charter a vessel amongst them, all bringing their own 
provisions, which are of the simplest, and cheapest 
kind. On board even/ vessel thus freighted, there is, 
I believe, a Priest, who helps the people in their 
religious exercises, and tries, (and fails) to maintain 
something like order, and harmony. The vessels em- 
"oyed in this service are usually Greek brigs, or brigan- 
nes, and schooners, and the number of passengers 
towed in them is almost always horribly excessive. 



134 



EOTHEN 



The voyages are sadly protracted, not only by the 
land-seeking, storm-flying habits of the Greek seamen, 
but also by their endless scheme 3, and speculations, 
which are for ever tempting them to touch at the 
nearest port. The voyage, too, must be made in 
winter, in order that Jerusalem may be reached some 
weeks before the Greek Easter, and thus by the time 
they attain to the holy shrines, the Pilgrims have really, 
and truly undergone a very respectable quantity of 
suffering. I once saw one of these pious cargoes put 
ashore on the coast of Cyprus, where they had touched 
for the purpose of visiting (not Paphos, but) some 
Christian sanctuary. I never saw (no, never even in 
the most horridly stuffy ball room) such a discomfort- 
able collection of human beings. Long huddled to- 
gether in a pitching, and rolling prison — fed on beans — 
exposed to some real danger, and to terrors without 
end, they had been tumbled about for many wintry 
weeks in the chopping seas of the Mediterranean ; as 
soon as they landed, they stood upon the t beach, 
and chaunted a hymn of thanks; the chaunt was 
morne, and doleful, but really the poor people were 
looking so miserable, that one could not fairly expect 
from them any lively outpouring of gratitude. 

When the Pilgrims have landed at Jaffa, they hire 
camels, horses, mules or donkeys, and make their way 
as well as they can to the Holy City. The space 
fronting the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, soon 
becomes a kind of Bazaar, or rather perhaps reminds 
you of an English Fair. On this spot the Pilgrims 
display their merchandise, and there too the trading 
residents of the place offer their goods for sale. I 
have never, I think, seen elsewhere in Asia, so much 
commercial animation as upon this square of ground 
by the Church door ; the " money-changers," seemed 
to be almost as brisk, and lively as if they had been 
within the Temple. 

When I entered the Church, I found a Babel c 
worshippers. Greek, Roman, and Armenian priest. 



TERRA SANTA 



135 



were performing their different rites in various nooks, 
and corners, and crowds of disciples were rushing 
about in all directions, — some laughing, and talking, 
—some begging, but most of them going about in 
a regular, and methodical way to kiss the sanctified 
spots, and speak the appointed syllables, and lay down 
the accustomed coin. If this kissing of the shrines 
had seemed as though it were done at the bidding of 
Enthusiasm, or of any poor sentiment, even feebly 
approaching to it, the sight would have been less odd 
to English eyes ; but as it was, I stared to see grown 
men thus steadily, and carefully embracing the sticks, 
and the stones — not from love or from zeal, (else God 
forbid that 1 should have stared,) but from a calm 
sense of duty ; they seemed to be not " working out," 
but transacting the great business of Salvation. 

Dthemetri, however, who generally came with me 
when I went out, in order to do duty as interpreter, 
really had in him some enthusiasm ; he was a zealous, 
and almost fanatical member of the Greek Church, 
and had long since performed the pilgrimage, so now 
great indeed was the pride, and delight with which he 
guided me from one holy spot to another. Every now 
and then, when he came to an unoccupied shrine, he 
fell down on his knees, and performed devotion ; he 
was almost distracted by the temptations that sur- 
rounded him ; there were so many stones absolutely 
requiring to be kissed, that he rushed about happily 
puzzled, and sweetly teazed, like "Jack among the 
maidens." 

A Protestant, familiar with the Holy Scriptures but 
ignorant of tradition, and the geography of Modern 
Jerusalem, finds himself a good deal "mazed" when 
he first looks for the sacred sites. The Holy Sepul- 
chre is not in a field without the wails, but in the 
midst, and in the best part of the town under the roof 
of the great Church which I have been talking about ; 
it is a handsome tomb of oblong form, partly sub- 
terranean, and partly above ground; and closed in on 



136 



EOTHEN 



all sides, except the one by which it is entered. You 
descend into the interior by a few steps, and there 
find an altar with burning tapers. This is the spot 
which is held in greater sanctity than any other at 
Jerusalem. When you have seen enough of it, you 
feel perhaps weary of the busy crowd, and inclined for 
a gallop ; you ask your Dragoman, whether there will 
be time before sunset to procure horses, and take a 
ride to Mount Calvary. Mount Calvary, Signor? — 
eccolo ! it is upstairs — on the first floor. In effect you 
ascend, if I remember rightly, just thirteen steps, and 
then you are shewn the now golden sockets in which 
the crosses of our Lord, and the two thieves were 
fixed. All this is startling, but the truth is, that the 
city having gathered round the Sepulchre, which is the 
main point of interest, has crept northward, and thus 
in great measure are occasioned the many geogra- 
phical surprises which puzzle the "Bible Christian." 

The church of the Holy Sepulchre comprises very 
compendiously almost all the spots associated with the 
closing career of our Lord. Just there, on your right, 
he stood and wept ; — by the pillar on your left he was 
scourged ; — on the spot just before you he was crowned 
with the crown of thorns ; — up there he was crucified, 
and down here he was buried. A locality is assigned 
to every the minutest event connected with the recorded 
history of our Saviour ; even the spot where the cock 
crew, when Peter denied his Master is ascertained, and 
surrounded by the walls of an Armenian convent. 
Many Protestants are wont to treat these traditions 
contemptuously, and those who distinguish themselves 
from their brethren by the appellation of " Bible Chris- 
tians," are almost fierce in their denunciation of these 
supposed errors. 

It is admitted, I believe, by every body, that the 
formal sanctification of these spots was the act of the 
Empress Helena, the mother of Constantine, but I 
think it is fair to suppose that she was guided by a care- 
ful regard to the then prevailing traditions. Now the 



TERRA SANTA 



137 



nature of the ground upon which Jerusalem stands, is 
such that the localities belonging to the events there 
enacted might have been more easily, and permanently 
ascertained by tradition, than those of any city that I 
know of. Jerusalem, whether ancient, or modern, was 
built upon and surrounded by sharp, salient rocks, 
intersected by deep ravines. Up to the time of the 
siege, Mount Calvary of course must have been well 
enough known to the people of Jerusalem ; the de- 
struction of the mere buildings could not have ob- 
literated from any man's memory the names of those 
steep rocks, and narrow ravines in the midst of which 
the city had stood. It seems to me therefore highly 
probable that in fixing the site of Calvary, the Empress 
was rightly guided. Recollect, too, that the voice of 
tradition at Jerusalem is quite unanimous, and that 
Romans, Greeks, Armenians, and Jews, all hating 
each other sincerely, concur in assigning the same 
localities to the events told in the Gospel. I concede, 
however, that the attempt of the Empress to ascertain 
the sites of the minor events cannot be safely relied 
upon. With respect, for instance, to the certainty of 
the spot where the cock crew, I am far from being 
convinced. 

Supposing that the Empress acted arbitrarily in 
fixing the holy sites, it would seem that she followed 
the Gospel of St. John, and that the geography 
sanctioned by her, can be more easily reconciled with 
that history, than with the accounts of the other 
Evangelists. 

The authority exercised by the Mussulman Govern- 
ment in relation to the Holy sites, is in one view some- 
what humbling to the Christians, for it is almost as an 
arbitrator between the contending sects, (this always 
of course fofcthe sake of pecuniary advantage,) that 
the Mussulman lends his contemptuous aid ; he not 
only grants, but enforces toleration. All persons, of 
whatever religion, are allowed to go as they will into 
every part of the church of the Holy Sepulchre, but in 



138 



EOTHEN 



order to prevent indecent contests, and also from 
motives arising out of money payments, the Turkish 
Government assigns the peculiar care of each sacred 
spot to one of the ecclesiastic bodies. Since this 
guardianship carries with it the receipt of the coins 
which the pilgrims leave upon the shrines, it is 
strenuously fought for by all the rival Churches, and 
the artifices of intrigue are busily exerted at Stamboul 
in order to procure the issue, or revocation of the 
Firmans, by which the coveted privilege is granted. 
In this strife the Greek Church has of late years 
signally triumphed, and the most famous of the shrines 
are committed to the care of their priesthood. They 
possess the golden socket in which stood the cross of 
our Lord, whilst the Latins are obliged to content 
themselves with the apertures in which were inserted 
the crosses of the two thieves ; they are naturally dis- 
contented with that poor privilege, and sorrowfully 
look back to the days of their former glory — the days 
when Napoleon was Emperor, and Sebastiani was 
minister at the Porte. It seems that the "citizen" 
Sultan, old Louis Philippe, has done very little indeed 
for Holy Church in Palestine. 

Although the Pilgrims perform their devotions at the 
several shrines with so little apparent enthusiasm, they 
are driven to the verge of madness by the miracle 
which is displayed to them on Easter Saturday. Then 
it is that the heaven-sent fire issues from the Holy 
Sepulchre. The Pilgrims all assemble in the great 
Church, and already, long before the wonder is worked, 
they are wrought by anticipation of God's sign, as well 
as by their struggles for room, and breathing space, to 
a most frightful state of excitement. At length the 
Chief Priest of the Greeks, accompanied (of all people 
in the world) by the Turkish Governor, enters the tomb. 
After this there is a long pause, and then suddenly 
from out of the small apertures on either side of the 
Sepulchre, there issue long, shining flames. The 
pilgrims now rush forward, madly struggling to light 



TERRA SANTA 



139 



their tapers at the holy fire. This is the dangerous 
moment, and many lives are often lost. 

The year before that of my going to Jerusalem, 
Ibrahim Pasha, from some whim, or motive of policy, 
chose to witness the miracle. The vast Church was of 
course thronged, as it always is on that awful day. It 
seems that the appearance of the fire was delayed for a 
very long time, and that the growing frenzy of the 
people was heightened by suspense. Many, too, had 
already sunk under the effect of the heat, and the 
stifling atmosphere, when at last the fire flashed from 
the Sepulchre. Then a terrible struggle ensued — many 
sunk, and were crushed. Ibrahim had taken his station 
in one of the galleries, but now, feeling perhaps his 
brave blood warmed by the sight, and sound of such 
strife, he took upon himself to quiet the people by his 
personal presence, and descended into the body of the 
Church with only a few guards ; he had forced his way 
into the midst of the dense crowd, when unhappily he 
fainted away ; his guards shrieked out, and the event 
instantly became known. A body of soldiers recklessly 
forced their way through the crowd, trampling over 
every obstacle that they might save the life of their 
general. Nearly two hundred people were killed in 
the struggle. 

The following year, however, the Government took 
better measures for the prevention of these calamities. 
I was not present at the ceremony, having gone away 
from Jerusalem some time before, but I afterwards 
returned into Palestine, and I then learned, that the day 
had passed off without any disturbance of a fatal kind. 
It is, however, almost too much to expect that so many 
ministers of peace can assemble without finding some 
occasion for strife, and in that year a tribe of wild 
Bedouins became the subject of discord ; these men, it 
seems, led an Arab life in some of the desert tracts 
bordering on the neighbourhood of Jerusalem, but 
were not connected with any of the great ruling tribes. 
Some whim, or notion of policy had induced them to 



EOTHEN 



embrace Christianity, but they were grossly ignorant 
of the rudiments of their adopted faith, and having no 
priests with them in their desert, they had as little 
knowledge of religious ceremonies, as of Religion it- 
self ; they were not even capable of conducting them- 
selves in a place of worship with ordinary decorum, but 
would interrupt the service with scandalous cries, and 
warlike shouts. Such is the account the Latins give 
of them, but I have never heard the other side of the 
question. These wild fellows, notwithstanding their 
entire ignorance of all religion, are yet claimed by the 
Greeks, not only as proselytes who have embraced 
Christianity generally, but as converts to the particular 
doctrines, and practice of their church. The people 
thus alleged to have concurred in the great schism of 
the Eastern Empire, are never, I believe, within the 
walls of a church, or even of any building at all, except 
upon this occasion of Easter, and as they then never 
fail to find a row of some kind going on by the side of 
the Sepulchre, they fancy, it seems, that the ceremonies 
there enacted are funeral games, of a martial character, 
held in honour of a deceased chieftain, and that a 
Christian festival is a peculiar kind of battle, fought 
between walls, and without cavalry. It does not appear, 
however, that these men are guilty of any ferocious acts, 
or that they attempt to commit depredations. The 
charge against them is merely, that by their way of 
applauding the performance — by Tfheir horrible cries, 
and frightful gestures, they destroy the solemnity of 
divine service, and upon this ground the Franciscans 
obtained a firman, for the exclusion of such tumultuous 
worshippers. The Greeks, however, did not choose to 
lose the aid of their wild converts, merely because they 
were a little backward in their religious education, and 
they therefore persuaded them to defy the firman by 
entering the city en masse, and over-awing their 
enemies. The Franciscans, as well as the government 
authorities were obliged to give way, and the Arabs 
triumphantly marched into the church. The festival, 



TERRA SANTA 



141 



however, must have seemed to them rather flat, for 
although there may have been some " casualties " in 
the way of eyes black, and noses bloody, and women 
" missing," there was no return of " killed." 

Formerly the Latin Catholics concurred in acknow- 
ledging, (but not I hope in working,) the annual 
miracle of the heavenly fire, but they have for many 
years withdrawn their countenance from this exhibition, 
and they now repudiate it as a trick of the Greek 
church. Thus, of course, the violence of feeling with 
which the rival churches meet at the Holy Sepulchre, 
on Easter Saturday, is greatly increased, and a dis- 
turbance of some kind is certain. In the year I speak 
of, though no lives were lost, there was, as it seems, a 
tough struggle in the church. I was amused at hearing 
of a taunt that was thrown that day upon an English 
traveller : he had taken his station in a convenient part 
of the church, and was no doubt displaying that 
peculiar air of serenity and gratification with which an 
English gentleman usually looks on at a row, when one 
of the Franciscans came by, all reeking from the fight, 
and was so disgusted at the coolness, and placid con- 
tentment of the Englishman, (who was a guest at the 
convent,) that he forgot his monkish humility, as well 
as the duties of hospitality, and plainly said, "You 
sleep under our roof — you eat our bread — you drink 
our wine, and then when Easter Saturday comes, you 
don't fight for us ! "* 

Yet these rival churches go on quietly enough till 
their blood is up. The terms on which they live re- 
mind one of the peculiar relation subsisting at Cam- 
bridge between " town, and gown." 

These contests, and disturbances, certainly do not 
originate with the lay-pilgrims, the great body of 
whom are, as I believe, quiet, and inoffensive people ; 
it is true, however that their pious enterprise is be- 
lieved by them to operate as a counterpoise for a 
multitude of sins, whether past, or future, and perhaps 
they exert themselves in after life to restore the balance 



142 



EOTHEN 



of good, and evil. The Turks have a maxim, which, 
like most cynical apothegms carries with it the buzzing 
trumpet of falsehood, as well as the small, fine " sting 
of truth." " If your friend has made the pilgrimage 
once, distrust him — if he has made the pilgrimage 
twice, cut him dead ! " The caution is said to be as 
applicable to the visitants of Jerusalem, as to those of 
Mecca, but I cannot help believing that the frailties of 
all the Hadjis, 1 whether Christian, or Mahometan, are 
greatly exaggerated. I certainly regarded the pilgrims 
to Palestine as a well-disposed, orderly body of people, 
not strongly enthusiastic, but desirous to comply with 
the ordinances of their religion, and to attain the great 
end of salvation as quietly, and economically as 
possible. 

When the solemnities of Easter are concluded, the 
pilgrims move off in a body to complete their good 
work, by visiting the sacred scenes in the neighbour- 
hood of Jerusalem, including the Wilderness of John 
the Baptist, Bethlehem, and above all the Jordan, for 
to bathe in those sacred waters is one of the chief 
objects of the expedition. All the pilgrims — men, 
women, and children, are submerged, en chemise, and 
the saturated linen is carefully wrapped up, and pre- 
served as a burial dress that shall inure for salvation 
in the realms of death. 

I saw the burial of a pilgrim ; he was a Greek — 
miserably poor, and very old— he had just crawled into 
the Holy City, and had reached at once the goal of his 
pious journey, and the end of his sufferings upon earth ; 
there was no coffin, nor wrapper, and as I looked full 
upon the face of the dead, I saw how deeply it was 
rutted with the ruts of age, and misery. The priest, 
strong, and portly, fresh, fat, and alive with the life of 
the animal kingdom — unpaid, or ill paid for his work, 
would scarcely deign to mutter out his forms, but 
hurried over the words with shocking haste ; presently 
he called out impatiently — " Yalla ! Goor ! " (Come ! 

1 Hadji — a pilgrim. 



TERRA SANTA 



143 



look sharp !), and then the dead Greek was seized ; his 
limbs yielded inertly to the rude men that handled them, 
and down he went into his grave, so roughly bundled 
in, that his neck was twisted by the fall, — so twisted, 
that if the sharp malady of life were still upon him, the 
old man would have shrieked, and groaned, and the 
lines of his face would have quivered with pain ; the 
lines of his face were not moved, and the old man lay 
still, and heedless — so well cured of that tedious life- 
ache, that nothing could hurt him now. His clay was 
itself again — cool, firm, and tough. The pilgrim had 
found great rest ; I threw the accustomed handful of 
the holy soil upon his patient face, and then, and in less 
than a minute, the earth closed coldly round him. 

I did not say " Alas ! " — (nobody ever does that I 
know of, though the word is so frequently written). I 
thought the old man had got rather well out of the 
scrape of being alive, and poor. 

The destruction of the mere buildings in such a place 
as Jerusalem, would not involve the permanent disper- 
sion of the inhabitants, for the rocky neighbourhood in 
which the town is situate abounds in caves, which 
would give an easy refuge to the people, until they 
gained an opportunity of rebuilding their dwellings. 
Therefore I could not help looking upon the Jews of 
Jerusalem, as being in some sort the representatives, if 
not the actual descendants of the rascals who crucified 
our Saviour. Supposing this to be the case, I felt that 
there would be some interest in knowing how the 
events of the Gospel History were regarded by the 
Israelites of modern Jerusalem. The result of my in- 
quiry upon this subject, was, so far as it went, entirely 
favourable to the truth of Christianity. I understood 
that the performance of the miracles was 7iot doubted by 
any of the Jews in the place; all of them concurred in 
attributing the works of our Lord to the influence of 
magic, but they were divided as to the species of 
enchantment from which the power proceeded ; the 
great mass of the Jewish people believed, I fancy, that 



144 



EOTHEN 



the miracles had been wrought by aid of the powers of 
darkness, but many, and those the more enlightened, 
would call Jesus " the good Magician." To Europeans 
repudiating the notion of all magic, good, or bad, the 
opinion of the Jews as to the agency by which the 
miracles were worked, is a matter of no importance, 
but the circumstance of their admitting that those 
miracles were in fact performed, is certainly curious, 
and perhaps not quite immaterial. 

If you stay in the Holy City long enough to fall 
into anything like regular habits of amusement and 
occupation, and to become in short for the time a 
" man about town " at Jerusalem, you will necessarily 
lose the enthusiasm which you may have felt when 
you trod the sacred soil for the first time, and it will 
then seem almost strange to you to find yourself so 
thoroughly surrounded in all your daily pursuits by the 
signs, and sounds of religion. Your Hotel is a monas- 
tery — your rooms are cells — the landlord is a stately 
abbot and the waiters are hooded monks. — If you walk 
out of the town you find yourself on the Mount of 
Olives, or in the Valley of Jehoshaphat, or on the Hill 
of Evil Counsel. If you mount your horse and extend 
your rambles, you will be guided to the wilderness of 
St. John, or the birth-place of our Saviour. Your club 
is the great Church of the Holy Sepulchre, where 
everybody meets everybody every day. If you lounge 
through the town, your Bond Street is the Via Dolo- 
rosa, and the object of your hopeless affections is some 
maid, or matron all forlorn, and sadly shrouded in her 
pilgrim's robe. If you would hear music, it must be 
the chaunting of friars — if you look at pictures, you see 
Virgins with mis-foreshortened arms, or devils out of 
drawing, or angels tumbling up the skies in impious 
perspective. If you would make any purchases you 
must go again to the Church doors, and when you in- 
quire for the manufactures of the place, you find that 
they consist of double-blessed beads, and sanctified 
shells. These last are the favourite tokens which the 



TERRA SANTA 



145 



pilgrims carry off with them ; the shell is graven or 
rather scratched on the white side with a rude drawing 
of the Blessed Virgin, or of the Crucifixion, or some 
other scriptural subject ; and having passed this stage, 
it goes into the hands of a priest ; by him it is sub- 
jected to some process for rendering it efficacious 
against the schemes of our ghostly enemy ; the manu- 
facture is then complete, and is deemed to be fit for 
use. 

The village of Bethlehem lies prettily couched on the 
slope of a hill. The sanctuary is a subterranean 
grotto, and is committed to the joint-guardianship of 
the Romans, Greeks, and Armenians, who vie with 
each other in adorning it. Beneath an altar gorgeously 
decorated, and lit with everlasting fires there stands 
the low slab of stone which marks the holy site of the 
Nativity ; and near to this is a hollow scooped out of 
the living rock. Here the infant Jesus was laid. Near 
the spot of the Nativity is the rock against which the 
Blessed Virgin was leaning when she presented her 
babe to the adoring shepherds. 

Many of those Protestants who are accustomed to 
despise tradition, consider that this sanctuary is alto- 
gether unscriptural — that a grotto is not a stable, and 
that mangers are made of wood. It is perfectly true, 
however, that the many grottos, and caves which are 
found among the rocks of Judea were formerly used 
for the reception of cattle; they are so used at this 
day ; I have myself seen grottos appropriated to this 
purpose. 

You know what a sad, and sombre decorum it is 
that outwardly reigns through the lands oppressed by 
Moslem sway. The Mahometans make beauty their 
prisoner, and enforce such a stern, and gloomy mo- 
rality, or at all events, such a frightfully close sem- 
blance of it, that far and long the wearied traveller 
may go, without catching one glimpse of outward hap- 
piness. By a strange chance in these latter days, it 
happened, that alone of all the places in the land, this 



146 



EOTHEN 



Bethlehem, the native village of our Lord, escaped the 
moral yoke of the Mussulmans, and heard again, after 
ages of dull oppression, the cheering clatter of social 
freedom, and the voices of laughing girls. It was after 
an insurrection which had been raised against the 
authority of Mehemet Ali, that Bethlehem was freed 
from the hateful laws of Asiatic decorum. The Mus- 
sulmans of the village had taken an active part in the 
movement, and when Ibrahim had quelled it, his wrath 
was still so hot, that he put to death every one of the 
few Mahometans of Bethlehem who had not already 
fled. The effect produced upon the Christian in- 
habitants, by the sudden removal of this restraint, was 
immense. The village smiled once more. It is true 
that such sweet freedom could not long endure. Even 
if the population of the place should continue to be 
entirely Christian, the sad decorum of the Mussulmans, 
or rather of the Asiatics, would sooner, or later be 
restored by the force of opinion, and custom. But for 
a while the sunshine would last, and when I was at 
Bethlehem, though long after the flight of the Mussul- 
mans, the cloud of Moslem propriety had not yet come 
back to cast its cold shadow upon life. When you 
reach that gladsome village, pray Heaven, there still 
may be heard there, the voice of free, innocent girls. 
It will sound so dearly welcome ! 

To a Christian, and thorough-bred Englishman, not 
even the licentiousness which generally accompanies 
it, can compensate for the oppressiveness of that 
horrible outward decorum, which turns the cities and 
the palaces of Asia into deserts, and gaols. So, I say, 
when you see, and hear them, those romping girls of 
Bethlehem will gladden your very soul. Distant at 
first, and then nearer, and nearer the timid flock will 
gather around you with their large burning eyes 
gravely fixed against yours, so that they see into your 
brain, and if you imagine evil against them, they will 
know of your ill thought before it is yet well born, and 
will fly, and be gone in the moment. But presently, if 



TERRA SANTA 



147 



you will only look virtuous enough to prevent alarm, 
and vicious enough to avoid looking silly, the blithe 
maidens will draw nearer, and nearer to you, and soon 
there will be one, the bravest of the sisters, who will 
venture right up to your side, and touch the hem of 
your coat, in playful defiance of the danger, and then 
the rest will follow the daring of their youthful leader, 
and gather close round you, and hold a shrill con- 
troversy on the wondrous formation that you call a 
hat,' and the cunning of the hands that clothed you 
with cloth so fine ; and then growing more profound 
in their researches, they will pass from the study of 
your mere dress, to a serious contemplation of your 
stately height, and your nut-brown hair, and the ruddy 
glow of your English cheeks. And if they catch a 
glimpse of your ungloved fingers, then again will they 
make the air ring with their sweet screams of wonder, 
and amazement, as they compare the fairness of your 
hand with their warmer tints, and even with the hues 
of your own sunburnt face ; instantly the ringleader of 
the gentle rioters imagines a new sin ; with tremulous 
boldness she touches — then grasps your hand, and 
smoothes it gently betwixt her own, and prys curiously 
into its make, and colour, as though it were silk of 
Damascus, or shawl of Cashmere. And when they 
see you even then, still sage, and gentle, the joyous 
girls will suddenly, and screamingly, and all at once, 
explain to each other that you are surely quite harm- 
less, and innocent — a lion that makes no spring — a 
bear that never hugs, and upon this faith, one after the 
other, they will take your passive hand, and strive to 
explain it, and make it a theme, and a controversy. But 
the one— the fairest, and the sweetest of all, is yet the 
most timid ; she shrinks from the daring deeds of her 
playmates, and seeks shelter behind their sleeves, and 
strives to screen her glowing consciousness from the 
eyes that look upon her ; but her laughing sisters will 
have none of this cowardice — they vow that the fair 
one shall be their complice — shall share their dangers 



148 



EOTHEN 



shall touch the hand of the stranger ; they seize her 
small wrist, and drag her forward by force, and at last, 
whilst yet she strives to turn away, and to cover up her 
whole soul under the folds of downcast eyelids, they 
vanquish her utmost strength — they vanquish your 
utmost modesty, and marry her hand to yours. The 
quick pulse springs from her fingers, and throbs like a 
whisper upon your listening palm. For an instant her 
large, timid eyes are upon you — in an instant they are 
shrouded again, and there comes a blush so burning, 
that the frightened girls stay their shrill laughter, as 
though they had played too perilously, and harmed 
their gentle sister. A moment, and all with a sudden 
intelligence turn away, and fly like deer, yet soon again 
like deer they wheel round, and return, and stand, and 
gaze upon the danger, until they grow brave once 
more. 

" I regret to observe that the removal of the moral 
restraint imposed by the presence of the Mahometan 
inhabitants, has led to a certain degree of boisterous, 
though innocent levity, in the bearing of the Christians, 
and more especially in the demeanour of those who 
belong to the younger portion of the female population, 
but I feel assured that a more thorough knowledge of 
the principles of their own pure religion, will speedily 
restore these young people to habits of propriety, even 
more strict than those which were imposed upon them 
by the authority of their Mahometan brethren." Bah ! 
thus you might chaunt, if you chose ; but loving the 
truth, you will not so disown sweet Bethlehem — you 
will not disown, nor dissemble the right good hearty 
delight, with which in the midst of the arid waste, you 
found this gushing spring of fresh, and joyous girlhood. 



CHAPTER XVII 



THE DESERT 

GAZA is upon the edge of the Desert, to which it 
stands in the same relation as a sea port to the 
sea. It is there that you charter your camels, ( " the 
ships of the Desert") and lay in your stores for the 
voyage. 

These preparations kept me in the town for some 
days ; disliking restraint I declined making myself the 
guest of the Governor (as it is usual and proper to do) 
but took up my quarters at the Caravanserai, or 
" Khan," as they call it in that part of Asia. 

Dthemetri had to make the arrangements for my 
journey, and in order to arm himself with sufficient 
authority for doing all that was required, he found it 
necessary to put himself in communication with the 
Governor. The result of this diplomatic intercourse 
was that the Governor, with his train of attendants, 
came to me one day at my Caravanserai, and formally 
complained that Dthemetri had grossly insulted him. 
I was shocked at this, for the man was always atten- 
tive, and civil to me, and I was disgusted at the idea 
of his having been rewarded with insult. Dthemetri 
was present when the complaint was made, and I 
angrily asked him whether it was true that he had 
really insulted the Governor, and what the deuce he 
meant by it. This I asked with the full certainty that 
Dthemetri, as a matter of course, would deny the charge 
— would swear that a " wrong construction had been 
put upon his words, and that nothing was further from 



EOTHEN 



his thoughts," &c. &c, after the manner of the parlia- 
mentary people, but to my surprise, he very plainly 
answered that he certainly had insulted the Governor, 
and that rather grossly, but, he said, it was quite neces- 
sary to do this, in order to " strike terror, and inspire 
respect." " Terror and respect ! What on earth do 
you mean by that nonsense ? " — " Yes, but without 
striking terror, and inspiring respect, he, (Dthemetri) 
would never be able to force on the arrangements for 
my journey, and Vossignoria would be kept at Gaza 
for a month ! " This would have been awkward, and 
certainly I could not deny that poor Dthemetri had 
succeeded in his odd plan of inspiring respect, for at 
the very time that this explanation was going on in 
Italian, the Governor seemed more than ever, and 
more anxiously disposed to overwhelm me with assur- 
ances of good will, and proffers of his best services. All 
this kindness, or promise of kindness, I naturally re- 
ceived with courtesy — a courtesy that greatly perturbed 
Dthemetri, for he evidently feared that my civility 
would undo all the good that his insults had achieved. 

You will find, I think, that one of the greatest draw- 
backs to the pleasure of travelling in Asia, is the being 
obliged more, or less, to make your way by bullying. 
It is true that your own lips are not soiled by the 
utterance of all the mean words that are spoken for 
you, and that you don ? t even know of the sham threats, 
and the false promises, and the vain-glorious boasts, 
put forth by your dragoman ; but now, and then there 
happens some incident of the sort which I have just 
been mentioning, which forces you to believe, or 
suspect, that your dragoman is habitually fighting your 
battles for you in a way that you can hardly bear to 
think of. 

A Caravanserai is not ill adapted to the purposes for 
which it is meant ; it forms the four sides of a large 
quadrangular court. The ground floor is used for ware- 
houses, the first floor for guests, and the open court for 
the temporary reception of the camels, as well as for 



THE DESERT 



the loading, and unloading of their burthens, and the 
transaction of mercantile business generally. The 
apartments used for the guests are small cells opening 
into a corridor, which runs round the four sides of the 
court. 

Whilst I lay near the opening of my cell, looking 
down into the court below, there arrived from the 
Desert a caravan — that is, a large assemblage of 
travellers ; it consisted chiefly of Moldavian pilgrims, 
who, to make their good work even more than complete, 
had begun by visiting the shrine of the Virgin in Egypt, 
and were now going on to Jerusalem. They had been 
overtaken in the Desert by a gale of wind, which so 
drove the sand, and raised up such mountains before 
them, that their journey had been terribly perplexed, 
and obstructed, and their provisions (including water, 
the most precious of all) had been exhausted long be- 
fore they reached the end of their toilsome march. 
They were sadly way-worn. The arrival of the caravan 
drew many and various groups into the court. There 
was the Moldavian pilgrim with his sable dress, and 
cap of fur, and heavy masses of bushy hair — the Turk 
with his various, and brilliant garments — the Arab 
superbly stalking under his striped blanket, that hung 
like royalty upon his stately form — the jetty Ethiopian 
in his slavish frock, — the sleek, smooth-faced scribe 
with his comely pelisse, and his silver ink-box stuck in 
like a dagger at his girdle. And mingled with these 
were the camels — some standing — some kneeling and 
being unladen — some twisting round their long necks, 
and gently stealing the straw from out of their own 
pack-saddles. 

In a couple of days I was ready to start. The way 
of providing for the passage of the Desert is this : there 
is an agent in the town who keeps himself in com- 
munication with some of the desert Arabs that are 
hovering within a day's journey of the place ; a party 
of these upon being guaranteed against seizure, or 
other ill-treatment at the hands of the Governor, come 



EOTHEN 



into the town bringing with them the number of camels 
which you require, and then they stipulate for a certain 
sum to take you to the place of your destination in a 
given time ; the agreement which they thus enter into, 
includes a safe-conduct, through their country, as well 
as the hire of the camels. According to the contract 
made with me, I was to reach Cairo within ten days 
from the commencement of the journey. I had four 
camels, one for my baggage, one for each of my 
servants, and one for myself. Four Arabs, the owners 
of the camels, came with me on foot. My stores were 
a small soldier's tent, two bags of dried bread brought 
from the convent at Jerusalem, and a couple of bottles 
of wine from the same source — two goat-skins filled 
with water, tea, sugar, a cold tongue, and (of all things 
in the world) a jar of Irish butter which Mysseri had 
purchased from some merchant. There was also a 
small sack of charcoal, for the greater part of the 
desert, through which we were to pass, is destitute of fuel. 

The camel kneels to receive her load, and for a while 
she will allow the packing to go on with silent resigna- 
tion, but when she begins to suspect that her master is 
putting more than a just burthen upon her poor hump, 
she turns round her supple neck, and looks sadly upon 
the increasing load, and then gently remonstrates 
against the wrong with the sigh of a patient wife ; if 
sighs will not move you, she can weep ; you soon learn 
to pity, and soon to love her for the sake of her gentle, 
and womanish ways. 

You cannot, of course, put an English or any other 
riding saddle upon the back of the camel, but your 
quilt, or carpet, or whatever you carry for the purpose 
of lying on at night, is folded, and fastened on to the 
pack-saddle upon the top of the hump, and on this you 
ride, or rather sit. You sit as a man sits on a chair 
when he sits astride, and faces the back of it. I made 
an improvement on this plan ; I had my English 
stirrups strapped on to the cross bars of the pack- 
saddle, and thus by gaining rest for my dangling legs, 



/ 



THE DESERT 153 

and gaining, too, the power of varying my position 
more easily than I could otherwise have done, I added 
very much to my comfort. Don't forget to do as I did. 

The camel, like the elephant, is one of the old 
fashioned sort of animals that still walk along upon the 
(now nearly exploded) plan of the ancient beasts that 
lived before the flood ; she moves forward both her 
near legs at the same time, and then awkwardly swings 
round her off shoulder and haunch, so as to repeat the 
manoeuvre on that side ; her pace, therefore, is an odd, 
disjointed, and disjoining sort of movement that is 
rather disagreeable at first, but you soon grow recon- 
ciled to it ; the height to which you are raised is of 
great advantage to you in passing the burning sands 
of the desert, for the air at such a distance from the 
ground is much cooler, and more lively than that 
which circulates beneath. 

For several miles beyond Gaza, the land which had 
been plentifully watered by the rains of the last week, 
was covered with rich verdure, and thickly jewelled 
with meadow flowers, so fresh and fragrant, that I 
began to grow almost uneasy — to fancy that the very- 
desert was receding before me, and that the long- 
desired adventure of passing its "burning sands," was 
to end in a mere ride across a field. But as I advanced, 
the true character of the country began to display itself, 
with sufficient clearness to dispel my apprehensions, 
and before the close of my first day's journey, I had 
the gratification of finding that I was surrounded on 
all sides by a tract of real sand, and had nothing at all to 
complain of, except that there peeped forth at intervals 
a few isolated blades of grass, and many of those 
stunted shrubs which are the accustomed food of the 
camel. 

Before sunset I came up with an encampment of 
Arabs, (the encampment from which my camels had 
been brought) and my tent was pitched amongst theirs. 
I was now amongst the true Bedouins ; almost every 
man of this race closely resembles his brethren ; almost 



EOTHEN 



every man has large and finely formed features, but his 
face is so thoroughly stripped of flesh, and the white 
folds from his head-gear fall down by his haggard 
cheeks, so much in the burial fashion, that he looks 
quite sad, and ghastly ; his large dark orbs, roll slowly 
and solemnly over the white of his deep-set eyes — his 
countenance shews painful thought and long suffering 
— the suffering of one fallen from a high estate. His 
gait is strangely majestic, and he marches along with 
his simple blanket, as though he were wearing the 
purple. His common talk is a series of piercing 
screams, and cries, 1 more painful to the ear than the 
most excruciating fine music that I ever endured. 

The Bedouin women are not treasured up like the 
wives and daughters of other Orientals, and indeed 
they seemed almost entirely free from the restraints 
imposed by jealousy ; the feint which they made of 
conceiling their faces from me was always slight ; they 
never I think, wore the yashmack properly fixed ; when 
they first saw me, they used to hold up a part of their 
drapery with one hand across their faces, but they 
seldom persevered very steadily in subjecting me to 
this privation. Unhappy beings ! they were sadly 
plain. The awful haggardness which gave some- 
thing of character to the faces of the men, was sheer 
ugliness in the poor women. It is a great shame, 
but the truth is that except when we refer to the 
beautiful devotion of the mother to her child, all the 
fine things we say, and think about woman, apply 
only to those who are tolerably good-looking, or grace- 
ful. These Arab women were so plain, and clumsy 
that they seemed to me to be fit for nothing but 
another, and a better world. They may have been 
good women enough, so far as relates to the exercise 
of the minor virtues, but they had so grossly neglected 
the prime duty of looking pretty in this transitory life, 

1 Milnes cleverly goes to the French for the exact word which 
conveys the impression produced by the voice of the Arabs, and 
calls them " un peuple criard." 



THE DESERT 



that I could not at all forgive them ; they seemed to 
feel the weight of their guilt and to be truly, and 
humbly penitent. I had the complete command of 
their affections, for at any moment I could make 
their young hearts bound, and their old hearts jump 
by offering a handful of tobacco, and yet, believe me, 
it was not in the first soiree, that my store of Latakasa 
was exhausted ! 

The Bedouin women have no religion ; this is partly 
the cause of their clumsiness ; perhaps, if from Chris- 
tian girls they would learn how to pray, their souls 
might become more gentle, and their limbs be clothed 
with grace. 

You who are going into their country, have a direct 
personal interest in knowing something about " Arab 
hospitality ; " but the deuce of it is, that the poor 
fellows with whom I have happened to pitch my tent 
were scarcely ever in a condition to exercise that 
magnanimous virtue with much eclat ; indeed Mysseri's 
canteen generally enabled me to outdo my hosts in the 
matter of entertainment. They were always courteous, 
however, and were never backward in offering me the 
"youart," or curds and whey, which is the principal 
delicacy to be found amongst the wandering tribes. 

Practically, I think, Childe Harold would have found 
it a dreadful bore to make "the desert his dwelling- 
place," for at all events if he adopted the life of the 
Arabs, he would have tasted no solitude. The tents 
are partitioned, not so as to divide the Childe, and the 
" fair spirit," who is his " minister," from the rest of the 
world, but so as to separate the twenty or thirty brown 
men that sit screaming in the one compartment, from 
the fifty or sixty brown women, and children that 
scream and squeak in the other. If you adopt the 
Arab life for the sake of seclusion, you will be horridly 
disappointed, for you will find yourself in perpetual 
contact with a mass of hot fellow creatures. It is true 
that all who are inmates of the same tent are related 
to each other, but I am not quite sure that that circum- 



156 



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stance adds much to the charm of such a life. At all 
events before you finally determine to become an 
Arab, try a gentle experiment ; take one of those 
small, shabby houses in May Fair, and shut yourself 
up in it with forty or fifty shrill cousins for a couple of 
weeks in July. 

In passing the Desert you will find your Arabs 
wanting to start, and to rest at all sorts of odd times ; 
they like, for instance, to be off at one in the morning, 
and to rest during the whole of the afternoon ; you 
must not give way to their wishes in this respect ; I 
tried their plan once, and found it very harassing, and 
unwholesome. An ordinary tent can give you very 
little protection against heat, for the fire strikes fiercely 
through single canvas, and you soon find that whilst 
you lie crouching, and striving to hide yourself from 
the blazing face of the sun, his power is harder to bear 
than it is where you boldly defy him from the airy 
heights of your camel. 

It had been arranged with my Arabs, that they were 
to bring with them all the food which they would want 
for themselves during the passage of the Desert, but 
as we rested at the end of the first day's journey, by 
the side of an Arab encampment, my camel-men found 
all that they required for that night in the tents of their 
own brethren. On the evening of the second day, 
however, just before we encamped for the night, my 
four Arabs came to Dthemetri, and formally announced 
that they had not brought with them one atom of food, 
and that they looked entirely to my supplies for their 
daily bread. This was awkward intelligence ; we were 
now just two days deep in the Desert, and I had brought 
with me no more bread than might be reasonably 
required for myself, and my European attendants : I 
believed at the moment (for it seemed likely enough) 
that the men had really mistaken the terms of the 
arrangement, and feeling that the bore of being put 
upon half rations would be a less evil (and even to 
myself a less inconvenience) than the starvation of my 



THE DESERT 



157 



Arabs, I at once told Dthemetri to assure them that 
my bread should be equally shared with all. Dthemetri, 
however, did not approve of this concession ; he assured 
me quite positively that the Arabs thoroughly under- 
stood the agreement, and that if they were now with- 
out food, they had wilfully brought themselves into 
this strait, for the wretched purpose of bettering their 
bargain, by the value of a few paras' worth of bread. 
This suggestion made me look at the affair in a new 
light ; I should have been glad enough to put up with 
the slight privation to which my concession would 
subject me, and could have borne to witness the semi- 
starvation of poor Dthemetri with a fine, philosophical 
calm, but it seemed to me that the scheme, if scheme 
it were, had something of audacity in it, and was well 
enough calculated to try the extent of my softness ; I 
well knew the danger of allowing such a trial to result 
in a conclusion that I was one who might be easily 
managed ; and therefore, after thoroughly satisfying 
myself from Dthemetri's clear, and repeated assertions, 
that the Arabs had really understood the arrangement, 
I determined that they should not now violate it by 
taking advantage of my position in the midst of their 
big desert, so I desired Dthemetri to tell them that 
they should touch no bread of mine. We stopped, 
and the tent was pitched ; the Arabs came to me, and 
prayed loudly for bread ; I refused them. 

" Then we die !" 

" God's will be done." 

I gave the Arabs to understand, that I regretted 
their perishing by hunger, but that I should bear this 
calmly, like any other misfortune not my own — that in 
short I was happily resigned to their fate. The men 
would have talked a great deal, but they were under 
the disadvantage of addressing me through a hostile 
interpreter ; they looked hard upon my face, but they 
found no hope there, so at last they retired, as they 
pretended, to lay them down, and die. 

In about ten minutes from this time, I found that 



i 5 8 



EOTHEN 



the Arabs were busily cooking their bread ! Their 
pretence of having brought no food was false, and was 
only invented for the purpose of saving it. They had 
a good bag of meal which they had contrived to stow 
away under the baggage, upon one of the camels, in 
such a way as to escape notice. In Europe the de- 
tection of a scheme like this would have occasioned 
a disagreeable feeling between the master, and the 
delinquent, but you would no more recoil from an 
Oriental, on account of a matter of this sort, than in 
England you would reject a horse that had tried, and 
failed to throw you. Indeed I felt quite good-humouredly 
towards my Arabs, because they had so woefully failed 
in their wretched attempt, and because, as it turned 
out, I had done what was right ; they too, poor fellows, 
evidently began to like me immensely, on account of 
the hard-heartedness which had enabled me to baffle 
their scheme. 

The Arabs adhere to those ancestral principles of 
bread -baking which have been sanctioned by the 
experience of ages. The very first baker of bread that 
ever lived, must have done his work exactly as the 
Arab does at this day. He takes some meal, and 
holds it out in the hollow of his hands, whilst his 
comrade pours over it a few drops of water ; he then 
mashes up the moistened flour into, a paste,* which he 
pulls into small pieces, and thrusts into the embers ; 
his way of baking exactly resembles the craft or mystery 
of roasting chestnuts, as practised by children ; there 
is the same prudence and circumspection in choosing 
a good berth for the morsel — the same enterprise, and 
self-sacrificing valour, in pulling it out with the fingers. 

The manner of my daily march was this. At about 
an hour before dawn, I rose, and made the most of 
about a pint of water which I allowed myself for wash- 
ing. Then I breakfasted upon tea, and bread. As 
soon as the beasts were loaded, I mounted my camel, 
and pressed forward ; my poor Arabs being on foot 
would sometimes moan with fatigue, and pray for rest, 



THE DESERT 



159 



but I was anxious to enable them to perform their 
contract for bringing me to Cairo within the stipulated 
time, and I did not therefore allow a halt until the 
evening came. About mid-day, or soon after, Mysseri 
used to bring up his camel alongside of mine, and 
supply me with a piece of bread softened in water, (for 
for it was dried hard like board), and also (as long as 
it lasted) with a piece of the tongue ; after this there 
came into my hand (how well I remember it !) the little 
tin cup half filled with wine and water. 

As long as you are journeying in the interior of the 
Desert you have no particular point to make for as 
your resting place. The endless sands, yield nothing 
but small stunted shrubs — even these fail after the first 
two or three days, and from that time you pass over 
broad plains — you pass over newly reared hills — you 
pass through valleys that the storm of the last week 
has dug, and the hills, and the valleys are sand, sand, 
sand, still sand, and only sand, and sand, and sand 
again. The earth is so samely, that your eyes turn 
towards heaven — towards heaven, I mean, in the sense 
of sky. You look to the Sun, for he is your task-master, 
and by him you know the measure of the work that 
you have done, and the measure of the work that 
remains for you to do ; He comes when you strike 
your tent in the early morning, and then, for the first 
hour of the day, as you move forward on your camel, 
he stands at your near side, and makes you know that 
the whole day's toil is before you — then for a while, 
and a long while you see him no more, for you are 
veiled, and shrouded, and dare not look upon the 
greatness of his glory, but you know where he strides 
over head, by the touch of his flaming sword. No 
words are spoken, but your Arabs moan, your camels 
sigh, your skin glows, your shoulders ache, and for 
sights you see the pattern, and the web of the silk that 
veils your eyes, and the glare of the outer light. Time 
labours on — your skin glows, and your shoulders ache, 
your Arabs moan, your camels sigh, and you see the 



i6o 



EOTHEN 



same pattern in the silk, and the same glare of light 
beyond, but conquering Time marches on, and by and 
by the descending Sun has compassed the Heaven, 
and now softly touches your right arm, and throws 
your lank shadow over the sand, right along on the 
way for Persia ; then again you look upon his face, for 
his power is all veiled in his beauty, and the redness of 
flames has become the redness of roses — the fair, wavy 
cloud that fled in the morning now comes to his sight 
once more — comes blushing, yet still comes on — comes 
burning with blushes, yet hastens, and clings to his 
side. 

Then arrives your time for resting. The world about 
you is all your own, and there, where you will, you 
pitch your solitary tent ; there is no living thing to 
dispute your choice. When at last the spot had been 
fixed upon, and we came to a halt, one of the Arabs 
would touch the chest of my camel, and utter at the 
same time a peculiar gurgling sound ; the beast in- 
stantly understood, and obeyed the sign, and slowly 
sunk under me 'till she brought her body to a level with 
the ground ; then gladly enough I alighted ; the rest 
of the camels were unloaded, and turned loose to browse 
upon the shrubs of the Desert, where shrubs there 
were, or where these failed, to wait for the small 
quantity of food which was allowed them out of our 
stores. 

My servants, helped by the Arabs, busied them- 
selves in pitching the tent, and kindling the fire. 
Whilst this was doing I used to walk away towards 
the East, confiding in the print of my foot as a guide 
for my return. Apart from the cheering voices of my 
attendants I could better know and feel the loneliness 
of the Desert. The influence of such scenes, however, 
was not of a softening kind, but filled me rather with 
a sort of childish exultation in the self-sufficiency which 
enabled me to stand thus alone in the wideness of 
Asia — a short-lived pride, for wherever man wanders, 
he still remains tethered by the chain that links him to 



THE DESERT 



161 



his kind; and so when the night closed round me, 
I began to return — to return as it were to my own 
gate. Reaching at last some high ground, I could see, 
and see with delight, the fire of our small encampment, 
and when, at last, I regained the spot, it seemed to me 
a very home that had sprung up for me in the midst of 
these solitudes. My Arabs were busy with their bread, 
— Mysseri rattling tea-cups, — the little kettle with her 
odd, oldmaidish looks sat humming away old songs 
about England, and two or three yards from the fire 
my tent stood prim, and tight with open portal, and 
with welcoming look, like " the own arm chair," of our 
Lyrist's " sweet Lady Anne." 

At the beginning of my journey, the night breeze 
blew coldly; when that happened, the dry sand was 
heaped up outside round the skirts of the tent, and so 
the Wind that every where else could sweep as he 
listed along those dreary plains was forced to turn aside 
in his course, and make way, as he ought, for the 
Englishman. Then within my tent, there were heaps 
of luxuries, — dining rooms, dressing rooms, — libraries, 
bed rooms, drawing rooms, oratories, all crowded into 
the space of a hearth rug. The first night, I remember, 
with my books, and maps about me, I wanted light, — 
they brought me a taper, and immediately from out of 
the silent Desert there rushed in a flood of life, unseen 
before. Monsters of moths of all shapes, and hues, 
that never before perhaps had looked upon the shining 
of a flame, now madly thronged into my tent, and 
dashed through the fire of the candle till they fairly 
extinguished it with their burning limbs. Those who 
had failed in attaining this martyrdom, suddenly 
became serious, and clung despondingly to the 
canvass. 

By and by there was brought to me the fragrant tea, 
and big masses of scorched and scorching toast, that 
minded me of old Eton days, and the butter that had 
come all the way to me in this Desert of Asia, from 
out of that poor, dear, starving Ireland. I feasted like 
M 



EOTHEN 



a King, — like four Kings, — like a boy in the fourth 
form. 

When the cold, sullen morning dawned, and my 
people began to load the camels, I always felt loath to 
give back to the waste this little spot of ground that 
had glowed for a while with the cheerfulness of a 
human dwelling. One by one the cloaks, the saddles, 
the baggage, the hundred things that strewed the 
ground, and made it look so familiar — all these were 
taken away, and laid upon the camels. A speck in 
the broad tracts of Asia remained still impressed with 
the mark of patent portmanteaus, and the heels of 
London boots ; the embers of the fire lay black, and 
cold upon the sand, and these were the signs we left. 

My tent was spared to the last, but when all else was 
ready for the start, then came its fall ; the pegs were 
drawn, the canvass shivered, and in less than a minute 
there was nothing that remained of my genial home 
but only a pole, and a bundle. The encroaching Eng- 
lishman was off, and instant upon the fall of the can- 
vass, like an owner, who had waited, and watched, the 
Genius of the Desert stalked in. 

To servants, as I suppose to any other Europeans 
not much accustomed to amuse themselves by fancy, 
or memory, it often happens that after a few days 
journeying, the loneliness of the desert will become 
frightfully oppressive. Upon my poor fellows the 
access of melancholy came heavy, and all at once, as 
a blow from above ; they bent their necks, and bore it 
as best they could, but their joy was great on the fifth 
day, when we came to an Oasis called Gatieh, for here 
we found encamped a caravan, (that is an assemblage 
of travellers) from Cairo. The Orientals living in 
cities, never pass the Desert, except in this way ; many 
will wait for weeks, and even for months, until a suf- 
ficient number of persons can be found ready to under- 
take the journey at the same time — until the flock of 
sheep is big enough to fancy itself a match for wolves. 
They could not, I think, really secure themselves 



THE DESERT 163 

against any serious danger by this contrivance, for 
though they have arms, they are so little accustomed 
to use them, and so utterly unorganized, that they 
never could make good their resistance to robbers of 
the slightest respectability. It is not of the Bedouins 
that such travellers are afraid, for the safe-conduct 
granted by the Chief of the ruling tribe is never, I be- 
lieve, violated, but it is said that there are deserters and 
scamps of various sorts who hover about the skirts of 
the Desert, particularly on the Cairo side, and are 
anxious to succeed to the property of any poor devils 
whom they may find more weak, and defenceless than 
themselves. 

These people from Cairo professed to be amazed at 
the ludicrous disproportion between their numerical 
forces and mine. They could not understand, and they 
wanted to know by what strange privilege it is that an 
Englishman with a brace of pistols, and a couple of 
servants rides safely across the Desert, whilst they, the 
natives of the neighbouring cities are forced to travel 
in troops, or rather in herds. One of them got a few 
minutes of private conversation with Dthemetri, and 
ventured to ask him anxiously, whether the English 
did not travel under the protection of Evil Demons. I 
had previously known, (from Methley, I think, who had 
travelled in Persia,) that this notion, so conducive to 
the safety of our countrymen, is generally prevalent 
amongst Orientals ; it owes its origin partly to the 
strong wilfulness of the English gentleman, (which 
not being backed by any visible authority either civil, 
or military, seems perfectly superhuman to the soft 
Asiatic,) but partly too to the magic of the Banking 
system, by force of which the wealthy traveller will 
make all his journeys, without carrying a handful of 
coin, and yet when he arrives at a city, will rain down 
showers of gold. The theory is that the English 
traveller has committed some sin against God, and his 
conscience, and that for this, the Evil Spirit has hold 
of him, and drives him from his home, like a victim of 



164 



EOTHEN 



the old Grecian Furies, and forces him to travel over 
countries far, and strange, and most chiefly over 
Deserts, and desolate places, and to stand upon the 
sites of cities that once were, and are now no more, 
and to grope among the tombs of dead men. Often 
enough there is something of truth in this notion ; 
often enough the wandering Englishman is guilty, (if 
guilt it be,) of some pride, or ambition, big, or small, 
imperial, or parochial, which being offended has made 
the lone places more tolerable than ball rooms, to 
him, a sinner. 

I can understand the sort of amazement of the 
Orientals at the scantiness of the retinue with which 
an Englishman passes the Desert, for I was somewhat 
struck myself when I saw one- of my countrymen 
making his way across the wilderness in this simple 
style. At first there was a mere moving speck in the 
horizon ; my party, of course, became all alive with 
excitement, and there were many surmises ; soon it 
appeared that three laden camels were approaching, 
and that two of them carried riders ; in a little while 
we saw that one of the riders wore the European 
dress, and at last the travellers were pronounced to be 
an English gentleman, and his servant ; by their side 
there were a couple, I think, of Arabs on foot, and this 
was the whole party. 

You, — you love sailing, — in returning from a cruise 
to the English coast, you see often enough a fisher- 
man's humble boat far away from all shores, with an 
ugly, black sky above, and an angry sea beneath, — you 
watch the grisly old man at the helm, carrying his 
craft with strange skill through the turmoil of waters, 
and the boy, supple-limbed, yet weather-worn already, 
and with steady eyes that look through the blast, — you 
see him understanding commandments from the jerk 
of his father's white eye-brow, — now belaying, and 
now letting go, — now scrunching himself down into 
mere ballast, or baling out Death with a pipkin. Stale 
enough is the sight, and yet when I see it, I always 



THE DESERT 



165 



stare anew, and with a kind of Titanic exultation, 
because that a poor boat with the brain of a man, and 
the hands of a boy on board can match herself so 
bravely against black Heaven, and Ocean ; well, so 
when you have travelled for days, and days, over an 
Eastern Desert, without meeting the likeness of a 
human being, and then at last see an English shoot- 
ing-jacket, and his servant come listlessly slouching 
along from out the forward horizon, you stare at the 
wide unproportion between this slender company, and 
the boundless plains of sand through which they are 
keeping their way. 

This Englishman, as I afterwards found, was a 
military man returning to his country from India, and 
crossing the Desert at this part in order to go through 
Palestine. As for me, I had come pretty straight from 
England, and so here we met in the wilderness at about 
half way from our respective starting points. As we 
approached each other, it became with me a question 
whether we should speak ; I thought it likely that the 
stranger would accost me, and in the event of his doing 
so, I was quite ready to be as sociable, and chatty as I 
could be, according to my nature, but still I could not 
think of any thing particular that I had to say to him ; 
of course among civilised people, the not having any- 
thing to say is no excuse at all for not speaking, but I 
was shy, and indolent, and I felt no great wish to stop, 
and talk like a morning visitor, in the midst of those 
broad solitudes. The traveller, perhaps, felt as I did, 
for except that we lifted our hands to our caps, and 
waved our arms in courtesy, we passed each other, as 
if we had passed in Bond Street. Our attendants, 
however, were not to be cheated of the delight that 
they felt in speaking to new listeners, and hearing 
fresh voices once more. The masters, therefore, had 
no sooner passed each other than their respective 
servants quietly stopped, and entered into conversation. 
As soon as my camel found that her c'ompanions were 
not following her, she caught the social feeling and 



EOTHEN 



refused to go on. I felt the absurdity of the situation, 
and determined to accost the stranger, if only to avoid 
the awkwardness of remaining stuck fast in the Desert, 
whilst our servants were amusing themselves. When 
with this intent I turned round my camel, I found that 
the gallant officer, who had passed me by about thirty 
or forty yards, was exactly in the same predicament as 
myself. I put my now willing camel in motion, and 
rode up towards the stranger, who, seeing this, followed 
my example, and came forward to meet me. He was 
the first to speak ; he was much too courteous to 
address me as if he admitted the possibility of my wish- 
ing to accost him from any feeling of mere sociability, 
or civilian-like love of vain talk ; on the contrary, he 
at once attributed my advances to a laudable wish of 
acquiring statistical information, and, accordingly, 
when we got within speaking distance, he said, " I 
dare say, you wish to know how the Plague is going 
on at Cairo ? " and then he went on to say, he regretted 
that his information did not enable him to give me in 
numbers a perfectly accurate statement of the daily 
deaths ; he afterwards talked pleasantly enough upon 
other, and less ghastly subjects. I thought him manly, 
and intelligent — a worthy one of the few thousand 
strong Englishmen, to whom the Empire of India is 
committed. 

The night after the meeting with the people of the 
caravan, Dthemetri, alarmed by their warnings, took 
upon himself to keep watch all night in the tent ; no 
robbers came, except a jackal that poked his nose into 
my tent from some motive of rational curiosity ; 
Dthemetri did not shoot him for fear of waking me. 
These brutes swarm in every part of Syria ; and there 
were many of them even in the midst of the void 
sands, that would seem to give such poor promise of 
food ; I can hardly tell what prey they could be hoping 
for, unless it were that they might find, now and then, 
the carcase of some camel that had died on the journey. 
They do not marshal themselves into great packs like 



THE DESERT 



167 



the wild dogs of Eastern cities, but follow their prey in 
families, like the place-hunters of Europe ; their voices 
are frightfully like to the shouts, and cries of human 
beings ; if you lie awake in your tent at night, you are 
almost continually hearing some hungry family as it 
sweeps along in full cry ; you hear the exulting scream 
with which the sagacious dam first winds the carrion, 
and the shrill response of the unanimous cubs as they 
snuff the tainted air — " Wha ! wha ! wha ! wha ! wha ! 
wha ! — Whose gift is it in, mamma ? " 

Once, during this passage, my Arabs lost their way 
among the hills of loose sand that surrounded us, but 
after a while we were lucky enough to recover our 
right line of march. The same day we fell in with a 
Sheik, the head of a family, that actually dwells at no 
great distance from this part of the desert, during nine 
months of the year. The man carried a match-lock, 
of which he was very proud ; we stopped, and sat 
down, and rested awhile, for the sake of a little talk ; 
there was much that I should have liked to ask this 
man, but he could not understand Dthemetri's language, 
and the process of getting at his knowledge by double 
interpretation through my Arabs was unsatisfactory. 
I discovered, however, (and my Arabs knew of that 
fact) that this man and his family lived habitually for 
nine months of the year, without touching, or seeing 
either bread, or water. The stunted shrub growing at 
intervals through the sand in this part of the desert, is 
fed by the dews which fall at night, and enables the 
camel mares to yield a little milk, which furnishes the 
sole food and drink of their owner and his people. 
During the other three months, (the hottest of the 
months, I suppose) even this resource fails, and then 
the Sheik and his people are forced to pass into 
another district. You would ask me why the man 
should not remain always in that district which supplies 
him with water during three months of the year, but I 
don't know enough of Arab politics to answer the 
question. The Sheik was not a good specimen of the 



EOTHEN 



effect produced by the diet to which he is subjected ; 
he was very small, very spare, and sadly shrivelled — a 
poor over-roasted snipe, a mere cinder of a man ; I 
made him sit down by my side, and gave him a piece 
of bread, and a cup of water, from out of my goat- 
skins. This was not very tempting drink to look at, 
for it had become turbid, and was deeply reddened by 
some colouring matter contained in the skins, but it 
kept its sweetness, and tasted like a strong decoction 
of Russia leather. The Sheik sipped this, drop by 
drop, with ineffable relish, and rolled his eyes solemnly 
round between every draught, as though the drink 
were the drink of the Prophet, and had come from the 
seventh heaven. 

An inquiry about distances, led to the discovery 
that this Sheik had never heard of the division of time 
into hours ; my Arabs themselves, I think, were rather 
surprised at this. 

About this part of my journey, I saw the likeness of 
a freshwater lake ; I saw, as it seemed, a broad sheet 
of calm water, that stretched far, and fair towards 
the south — stretching deep into winding creeks, and 
hemmed in by jutting promontories, and shelving 
smooth off towards the shallow side ; on its bosom the 
reflected fire of the sun lay playing, and seeming to 
float upon waters deep, and still. 

Though I knew of the cheat, it was not 'till the 
spongy foot of my camel had almost trodden in the 
seeming waters, that I could undeceive my eyes, for 
the shore line was quite true, and natural. I soon saw 
the cause of the phantasm. A sheet of water, heavily 
impregnated with salts, had filled this great hollow ; 
and when dried up by evaporation had left a white 
saline deposit, that exactly marked the space which 
the waters had covered, and thus sketched a true shore- 
line. The minute crystals of the salt sparkled in the 
sun, and so looked like the face of a lake that is calm, 
and smooth. 

The pace of the camel is irksome, and makes your 



THE DESERT 



shoulders, and loins ache from the peculiar way in 
which you are obliged to suit yourself to the move- 
ments of the beast, but you soon of course become 
inured to this, and after the first two days, this way of 
travelling became so familiar to me, that (poor sleeper 
as I am) I now and then slumbered for some moments 
together, on the back of my camel. On the fifth day 
of my journey, the air above lay dead, and all the whole 
earth that I could reach with my utmost sight, and 
keenest listening was still, and lifeless, as some dis- 
peopled, and forgotten | world, that rolls round and 
round in the heavens, through wasted floods of light. 
The sun, growing fiercer, and fiercer, shone down 
more mightily now than ever on me he shone before, 
and as I dropped my head under his fire, and closed 
my eyes against the glare that surrounded me, I slowly 
fell asleep, for how many minutes, or moments, I can- 
not tell, but after a while I was gently awakened by a 
peal of church bells— my native bells — the innocent 
bells of Marlen, that never before sent forth their 
music beyond the Blaygon hills ! My first idea 
naturally was, that I still remained fast under the 
power of a dream. I roused myself, and drew aside 
the silk that covered my eyes, and plunged my bare 
face into the light. Then at least I was well enough 
awakened, but still those old Marlen bells rung on, not 
ringing for joy, but properly, prosily, steadily, merrily 
ringing " for church." After a while the sound died 
away slowly ; it happened that neither I, nor any of my 
party had a watch by which to measure the exact time 
of its lasting, but it seemed to me that about ten 
minutes had passed before the bells ceased. I attri- 
buted the effect to the great heat of the sun, the perfect 
dryness of the clear air through which I moved, and 
the deep stillness of all around me ; it seemed to me 
that these causes by occasioning a great tension, and 
consequent susceptibility of the hearing organs had 
rendered them liable to tingle under the passing touch 
of some mere memory, that must have swept across 



I JO 



EOTHEN 



my brain in a moment of sleep. Since my return to 
England it has been told me that like sounds have 
been heard at sea, and that the sailor becalmed under 
a vertical sun in the midst of the wide ocean, has 
listened in trembling wonder to the chime of his own 
village bells. 

At this time I kept a poor, shabby pretence of a 
* journal, which just enabled me to know the day of the 
month, and the week, according to the European 
calendar, and when in my tent at night I got out my 
pocket book, I found that the day was Sunday, and 
roughly allowing for the difference of time in this 
longitude, I concluded that at the moment of my hear- 
ing that strange peal, the church-going bells of Marlen 
must have been actually calling the prim congregation 
of the parish to morning prayer. The coincidence 
amused me faintly, but I could not pluck up the least 
hope that the effect which I had experienced was any- 
thing other than an illusion — an illusion liable to be 
explained (as every illusion is in these days) by some 
of the philosophers who guess at nature's riddles. It 
would have been sweeter to believe that my kneeling 
mother by some pious enchantment, had asked, and 
found this spell to rouse me from my scandalous for- 
getfulness of God's holy day, but my fancy was too 
weak to carry a faith like that. Indeed, the vale through 
which the bells of Marlen sent their song is a highly 
respectable vale, and its people (save one, two, or 
three,) are wholly unaddicted to the practice of magical 
arts. 

After the fifth day of my journey, I no longer tra- 
velled over shifting hills, but came upon a dead level 
— a dead level bed of sand, quite hard, and studded- 
with small shining pebbles. 

The heat grew fierce ; there was no valley, nor 
hollow, no hill, no mound, no shadow of hill, nor of 
mound, by which I could mark the way I was making. 
Hour by hour I advanced, and saw no change — I was 
still the very centre of a round horizon ; hour by hour 



THE DESERT 



171 



I advanced, and still there was the same, and the 
same, and the same — the same circle of flaming sky — 
the same circle of sand still glaring with light, and 
fire. Over all the heaven above — over all the earth 
beneath, there was no visible power that could balk 
the fierce will of the Sun ; " he rejoiced as a strong 
man to run a race ; his going forth was from the end 
of the heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it ; and 
there was nothing hid from the heat thereof." From 
pole to pole, and from the East to the West, he brand- 
ished his fiery sceptre as though he had usurped all 
Heaven, and Earth. As he bid the soft Persian in 
ancient times, so now, and fiercely too, he bid me bow 
down, and worship him ; so now in his pride he seemed 
to command me, and say " Thou shalt have none other 
gods but me." I was all alone before him. There 
were these two pitted together, and face to face — the 
mighty Sun for one, and for the other — this poor, 
pale, solitary Self of mine, that I always carry about 
with me. 

But on the eighth day, and before I had yet turned 
away from Jehovah, for the glittering god of the Per- 
sians, there appeared a dark line upon the edge of the 
forward horizon, and soon the line deepened into a 
delicate fringe, that sparkled here and there as though 
it were sewn with diamonds. There, then, before me 
were the gardens, and the minarets of Egypt, and the 
mighty works of the Nile, and I (the eternal Ego that 
I am I) — I had lived to see, and I saw them. 

When evening came, I was still within the confines 
of the Desert, and my tent was pitched as usual, but 
one of my Arabs stalked away rapidly towards the 
West, without telling me of the errand on which 
he was bent. After a while he returned ; he had 
toiled on a graceful service ; he had travelled all 
the way on to the border of the living world, and 
brought me back for token an ear of rice, full, fresh, 
and green. 

The next day I entered upon Egypt, and floated along 



172 



EOTHEN 



(for the delight was as the delight of bathing) through 
green, wavy fields of rice, and pastures fresh, and 
plentiful, and dived into the cold verdure of groves, 
and gardens, and quenched my hot eyes in shade, as 
though in deep, rushing waters. 



CHAPTER XVIII 



CAIRO AND THE PLAGUE 1 

CAIRO, and Plague ! During the whole time of 
my stay, the Plague was so master of the city, and 
shewed himself so staringly in every street, and every 
alley, that I can't now affect to dissociate the two 
ideas. 

When, coming from the Desert, I rode through a 
village which lies near to the city on the eastern side, 
there approached me with busy face, and earnest 
gestures, a personage in the Turkish dress ; his long 
flowing beard gave him rather a majestic look, but 

1 There is some semblance of bravado in my manner of talk- 
ing about the Plague. I have been more careful to describe the 
terrors of other people than my own. The truth is, that during 
the whole period of my stay at Cairo, I remained thoroughly im- 
pressed with a sense of my danger. I may almost say that I 
lived in perpetual apprehension, for even in sleep, as I fancy, 
there remained with me some faint notion of the peril with which 
I was encompassed. But Fear does not necessarily damp the 
spirits ; on the contrary, it will often operate as an excitement, 
giving rise to unusual animation, and thus it affected me. If I 
had not been surrounded at this time by new faces, new scenes, 
and new sounds, the effect produced upon my mind by one un- 
ceasing cause of alarm, may have been very different. As it was, 
the eagerness with which I pursued my rambles among the 
wonders of Egypt was sharpened, and increased by the sting of 
the fear of Death. Thus my account of the matter plainly con- 
veys an impression that I remained at Cairo without losing my 
cheerfulness, and buoyancy of spirits. And this is the truth, but 
it is also true, as I have freely confessed, that my sense of danger 
during the whole period was lively, and continuous. 



174 



EOTHEN 



his briskness of manner, and his visible anxiety to 
accost me seemed strange in an Oriental. The man 
in fact was French, or of French origin, and his object 
was to warn me of the Plague, and prevent me from 
entering the city. 

Arretez-vous, Monsieur, je vous en prie — arretez- 
vous ; il ne faut pas entrer dans la ville ; la Peste y 
regne partout. 

Oui, je sais, 1 mais 

Mais Monsieur, je dis la Peste — la Peste ; c'est de 
La Peste qu'il est question. 
Oui, je sais, mais 

Mais Monsieur, je dis encore la Peste — la Peste. 
Je vous conjure de ne pas entrer dans la ville — vous 
seriez dans une ville empestee. 

Oui, je sais, mais 

Mais Monsieur, je dois done vous avertir tout bonne- 
ment que si vous entrez dans la ville, vous serez — enfin 
vous serez Compromis ! 2 

Oui, je sais, mais 

The Frenchman was at last convinced that it was 
vain to reason with a mere Englishman, who could 
not understand what it was to be " compromised." I 
thanked him most sincerely for his kindly meant warn- 
ing ; in hot countries it is very unusual indeed for a 
man to go out in the glare of the sun, and give free 
advice to a stranger. 

When I arrived at Cairo, I summoned Osman 
EfTendi, who was, as I knew, the owner of several 

1 Anglice for " je le sais." These answers of mine as given 
above, are not meant for specimens of mere French, but of that 
fine, terse, nervous Continental English, with which I, and my 
compatriots make our way through Europe. This language, by 
the bye, is one possessing great force, and energy, and is not 
without its literature — a literature of the very highest order. 
Where will you find more sturdy specimens of downright, honest, 
and noble English than in the Duke of Wellington's M French " 
despatches ? 

2 The import of the word " compromised," when used in re- 
ference to contagion is explained in page 2. 



CAIRO AND THE PLAGUE 175 

houses, and would be able to provide me with apart- 
ments ; he had no difficulty in doing this, for there was 
not one European traveller in Cairo besides myself. 
Poor Osman ! he met me with a sorrowful countenance, 
for the fear of the Plague sat heavily on his soul ; he 
seemed as if he felt that he was doing wrong in lend- 
ing me a resting-place, and he betrayed such a listless- 
ness about temporal matters, as one might look for in 
a man who believed that his days were numbered. 
He caught me too, soon after my arrival, coming 
out from the public baths, 1 and from that time 
forward he was sadly afraid of me, for he shared the 
opinions of Europeans, ,with respect to the effect of 
contagion. 

Osman's history is a curious one. He was a Scotch- 
man born, and when very young, being then a drummer- 
boy, he landed in Egypt, with Mackensie Eraser's 
force. He was taken prisoner, and according to 
Mahometan custom, the alternative of Death, or the 
Koran, was offered to him ; he did not choose Death, 
and therefore went through the ceremonies which were 
necessary for turning him into a good Mahometan. 
But what amused me most in his history, was this — 
that very soon after having embraced Islam, he was 
obliged in practice to become curious, and discriminat- 
ing in his new faith — to make war upon Mahometan 
dissenters, and follow the orthodox standard of the 
Prophet in fierce campaigns against the Wahabees, 
who are the Unitarians of the Mussulman world. The 
Wahabees were crushed, and Osman returning home 
in triumph from his holy wars, began to flourish in the 
world ; he acquired property, and became effendi, or 

1 It is said, that when a Mussulman finds himself attacked by 
the Plague, he goes, and takes a bath. The couches on which 
the bathers recline, would carry infection, according to the notion 
of the Europeans. Whenever, therefore, I took the bath, at 
Cairo, (except the first time of my doing so) I avoided that part 
of the luxury which consists in being " put up to dry, " upon a 
kind of bed. 



176 



EOTHEN 



gentleman. At the time of my visit to Cairo, he 
seemed to be much respected by his brother Maho- 
metans, and gave pledge of his sincere alienation from 
Christianity by keeping a couple of wives. He affected 
the same sort of reserve in mentioning them as is 
generally shewn by Orientals. He invited me, indeed, 
to see his hareem, but he made both his wives bundle 
out before I was admitted ; he felt, as it seemed to me, 
that neither of them would bear criticism, and I think 
that this idea, rather than any motive of sincere 
jealousy, induced him to keep them out of sight. The 
rooms of the hareem reminded me of an English 
nursery, rather than of a Mahometan paradise. One 
is apt to judge of a woman before one sees her, by the 
air of elegance, or coarseness, with which she surrounds 
her home ; I judged Osman's wives by this test, and 
condemned them both. But the strangest feature in 
Osman's character was his inextinguishable nationality. 
In vain they had brought him over the seas in early 
boyhood — in vain had he suffered captivity, conversion, 
circumcision — in vain they had passed him through 
fire in their Arabian campaigns — they could not cut 
away or burn out poor Osman's inborn love of all that 
was Scotch ; in vain men called him Effendi — in vain 
he swept along in eastern robes — in vain the rival 
wives adorned his hareem ; the joy of his heart still 
plainly lay in this, that he had three shelves of books,' 
and that the books were thorough-bred Scotch — the 
Edinburgh this — the Edinburgh that, and above all, I 
recollect, he prided himself upon the "Edinburgh 
Cabinet Library." 

The fear of the Plague is its forerunner. It is likely 
enough, that at the time of my seeing poor Osman, the 
deadly taint was beginning to creep through his veins, 
but it was not till after I had left Cairo that he was 
visibly stricken. He died. 

As soon as I had seen all that I wanted to see in 
Cairo, and in the neighbourhood, I wished to make my 
escape from a city that lay under the terrible curse of 



CAIRO AND THE PLAGUE 177 



the Plague, but Mysseri fell ill, in consequence, I 
believe, of the hardships which he had been suffering 
in my service ; after a while he recovered sufficiently 
to undertake a journey, but then there was some 
difficulty in procuring beasts of burthen, and it was not 
till the nineteenth day of my sojourn that I quitted the 
city. 

During all this time the power of the Plague was 
rapidly increasing. When I first arrived, it was said 
that the daily number of " accidents " by plague, out of 
a population of about 200,000, did not exceed four or 
five hundred, but before I went away, the deaths were 
reckoned at twelve hundred a day. I had no means 
of knowing whether the numbers (given out, as I be- 
lieve they were by officials) were at all correct, but I 
could not help knowing that from day to day the 
number of the dead was increasing. My quarters 
were in a street which was one of the chief thorough- 
fares of the city. The funerals in Cairo take place 
between daybreak and noon, and as I was generally in 
my rooms during this part of the day, I could form 
some opinion as to the briskness of the Plague. I 
don't mean this for a sly insinuation that I got up 
every morning with the sun. It was not so, but the 
funerals of most people in decent circumstances at 
Cairo are attended by singers and howlers, and the 
performances of these people woke me in the early 
morning, and prevented me from remaining in ignor- 
ance of what was going on in the street below. 

These funerals were very simply conducted. The 
bier was a shallow wooden tray carried upon a light, 
and weak wooden frame. The tray had, in general, 
no lid, but the body was more or less hidden from view 
by a shawl, or scarf. The whole was borne upon the 
shoulders of men, who contrived to cut along with 
their burthen at a great pace. Two or three singers 
generally preceded the bier ; the howlers (who are 
paid for their vocal labours) followed after, and last of 
all came such of the dead man's friends, and relations 
N 



178 



EOTHEN 



as could keep up with such a rapid procession ; these, 
especially the women, would get terribly blown, and 
would straggle back into the rear ; many were fairly 
"beaten off." I never observed any appearance of I 
mourning in the mourners ; the pace was too severe j 
for any solemn affectation of grief. 

When first I arrived at Cairo, the funerals that daily 
passed under my windows were many, but still there 
were frequent, and long intervals without a single howl. 
Every day, however, (except one, when I fancied that 
I observed a diminution of funerals) these intervals 
became i'ess frequent, and shorter, and at last, the 
passing of the howlers from morn to noon was almost ( 
incessant. I believe that about one half of the whole 
people was carried off by this visitation. The Orientals, \ 
however, have more quiet fortitude than Europeans j 
under afflictions of this sort, and they never allow the 
Plague to interfere with their religious usages. I rode 
one day round the great burial ground. The tombs / 
are strewed over a great expanse, among the vast | 
mountains of rubbish (the accumulations of many 
centuries) which surround the city. The ground, un- j 
like the Turkish " cities of the dead," which are made 
so beautiful by their dark cypresses, has nothing to 
sweeten melancholy — nothing to mitigate the odious- 
ness of death. Carnivorous beasts, and birds possess 
the place by night, and now in the fair morning it was 
all alive with fresh comers — alive with dead. Yet at 
this very time when the Plague was raging so furiously, 
and on this very ground which resounded so mourn- 
fully with the howls of arriving funerals, preparations 
were going on for the religious festival, called the 
Kourban Bairam. Tents were pitched, and swings 
hung for the amusement of children — a ghastly holiday ! 
but the Mahometans take a pride, and a just pride in 
following their ancient customs undisturbed by the \ 
shadow of death. 

I did not hear, whilst I was at Cairo, that any prayer 
for a remission of the Plague had been offered up in 



CAIRO AND THE PLAGUE 179 



the mosques. I believe that, however frightful the 
ravages of the disease may be, the Mahometans re- 
frain from approaching Heaven with their complaints 
until the Plague has endured for a long space, and 
then at last they pray God, not that the Plague may 
cease, but that it may go to another city ! 

A good Mussulman seems to take pride in repudiat- 
ing the European notion that the will of God can be 
eluded by eluding the touch of a sleeve. When I went 
to see the Pyramids of Sakkara, I was the guest of a 
noble old fellow — an Osmanlee, whose soft, rolling 
language it was a luxury to hear, after suffering as I 
had suffered of late from the shrieking tongue of the 
Arabs ; this man was aware of the European ideas 
about contagion, and his first care, therefore, was to 
assure me that not a single instance of Plague had 
occurred in his village ; he then inquired as to the 
progress of the Plague at Cairo — I had but a bad 
account to give. Up to this time my host had care- 
fully refrained from touching me, out of respect to the 
European theory of contagion, but as soon as it was 
made plain that he, and not I, would be the person en- 
dangered by contact, he gently laid his hand upon my 
arm, in order to make me feel sure that the circumstance 
of my coming from an infected city did not occasion 
him the least uneasiness. That touch was worthy of 
Jove. 

Very different is the faith and the practice of the 
Europeans, or rather I mean of the Europeans settled 
in the East, and commonly called Levantines. When 
I came to the end of my journey over the desert, I had 
been so long alone, that the prospect of speaking to 
somebody at Cairo seemed almost a new excitement. 
I felt a sort of consciousness that I had a little of the 
wild beast about me, but I was quite in the humour to 
be charmingly tame, and to be quite engaging in my 
manners, if I should have an opportunity of holding 
communion with any of the human race whilst at Cairo. 
I knew no one in the place, and had no letters of in- 



i8o 



EOTHEN 



troduction, but I carried letters of credit, and it often 
happens in places remote from England, that those 
" advices " operate as a sort of introduction, and obtain 
for the bearer (if disposed to receive them) such 
ordinary civilities as it may be in the power of the 
banker to offer. 

Very soon after my arrival, I went to the house of 
the Levantine, to whom my credentials were addressed. 
At his door several persons (all Arabs) were hanging 
about, and keeping guard. It was not till after some 
delay, and the passing of some communications with 
those in the interior of the citadel, that I was admitted. 
At length, however, I was conducted through the court, 
and up a flight of stairs, and finally into the apart- 
ment where business was transacted. The room was 
divided by an excellent, substantial fence of iron bars, 
and behind this grille, the banker had his station. 
The truth was, that from fear of the Plague, he had 
adopted the course usually taken by European residents, 
and had shut himself up " in strict quarantine," — that 
is to say, that he had, as he hoped, cut himself off from 
all communication with infecting substances. The 
Europeans long resident in the East, without any, or 
with scarcely any exception, are firmly convinced that 
the plague is propagated by contact, and by contact 
only — that if they can but avoid the touch of an infecting 
substance, they are safe, and that if they cannot, they 
die. This belief induces them to adopt the contrivance 
of putting themselves in that state of siege which they 
call " Quarantine." It is a part of their faith that 
metals, and hempen rope, and also, I fancy, one or two 
other substances, will not carry the infection ; and they 
likewise believe that the germ of Pestilence, which lies 
in an infected substance, may be destroyed by sub- 
mersion in water, or by the action of smoke. They, 
therefore, guard the doors of their houses with the 
utmost care against intrusion, and condemn themselves, 
and all the members of their family, including any 
European servants, to a strict imprisonment within 



CAIRO AND THE PLAGUE 181 



the walls of their dwelling. Their native attendants 
are not allowed to enter at all, but they make the 
necessary purchases of provisions, which are hauled 
up through one of the windows by means of a rope, 
and are then soaked in water. 

I knew nothing of these mysteries, and was not 
therefore prepared for the sort of reception which I 
met with. I advanced to the iron fence, and putting 
my letter between the bars, politely proffered it to Mr. 
Banker. Mr. Banker received me with a sad, and 
dejected look, and not " with open arms," or with any 
arms at all, but with — a pair of tongs ! — I placed my 
letter between the iron fingers which picked it up as if 
it were a viper, and conveyed it away to be scorched, 
and purified by fire, and smoke. I was disgusted at 
this reception, and at the idea that anything of mine 
could carry infection to the poor wretch, who stood on 
the other side of the grille — pale, and trembling, and 
already meet for Death. I looked with something of 
the Mahometan's feeling upon these little contrivances 
for eluding fate ; and in this instance at least they 
were vain ; a few more days, and the poor money- 
changer who had strived to guard the days of his life 
(as though they were coins) with bolts, and bars of 
iron — he was seized by the Plague, and he died. 

To people entertaining such opinions as these re- 
specting the fatal effect of contact, the narrow, and 
crowded streets of Cairo were terrible as the easy slope 
that leads to Avernus. The roaring Ocean, and the 
beetling crags owe something of their sublimity to this 
— that if they be tempted they can take the warm life 
of a man. To the contagionist, filled as he is with the 
dread of final causes, having no faith in Destiny, nor 
in the fixed will of God, and with none of the devil- 
may-care indifference which might stand him instead 
of creeds — to such one, every rag that shivers in the 
breeze of a Plague-stricken city has this sort of sublimity. 
If by any terrible ordinance he be forced to venture 
forth, he sees Death dangling from every sleeve, and 



182 



EOTHEN 



as he creeps forward, he poises his shuddering limbs 
between the imminent jacket that is stabbing at his 
right elbow, and the murderous pelisse, that threatens 
to mow him clean down, as it sweeps along on his left. 
But most of all he dreads that which most of all he 
should love — the touch of a woman's dress, for mothers, 
and wives hurrying forth on kindly errands from the 
bedsides of the dying, go slouching along through the 
streets more wilfully, and less courteously than the 
men. For a while it may be, that the caution of the 
poor Levantine may enable him to avoid contact, but 
sooner, or later, perhaps, the dreaded chance arrives ; 
that bundle of linen, with the dark tearful eyes at the 
top of it, that labours along with the voluptuous clumsi- 
ness of Grisi — she has touched the poor Levantine 
with the hem of her sleeve ! from that dread moment 
his peace is gone ; his mind for ever hanging upon the 
fatal touch, invites the blow which he fears ; he watches 
for the symptoms of plague so carefully, that sooner 
or later they come in truth. The parched mouth is a 
sign — his mouth is parched ; the throbbing brain — his 
brain does throb ; the rapid pulse — he touches his own 
wrist (for he dares not ask counsel of any man lest he 
be deserted), he touches his wrist, and feels how his 
frighted blood goes galloping out of his heart ; there is 
nothing but the fatal swelling that is wanting to make 
his sad conviction complete ; immediately he has an 
odd feel under the arm — no pain, but a little strain- 
ing of the skin ; he would to God it were his fancy that 
were strong enough to give him that sensation ; this is 
the worst of all ; it now seems to him that he could be 
happy, and contented with his parched mouth, and his 
throbbing brain, and his rapid pulse, if only he could 
know that there were no swelling under the left arm ; 
but dares he try ? — in a moment of calmness, and de- 
liberation he dares not, — but when for a while he has 
writhed under the torture of suspense, a sudden strength 
of will drives him to seek, and know his fate ; he 
touches the gland, and finds the skin sane, and sound, 



CAIRO AND THE PLAGUE 183 



but under the cuticle there lies a small lump like a 
pistol bullet that moves as he pushes it. Oh ! but is 
this for all certainty, is this the sentence of death ? feel 
the gland of the other arm ; there is not the same lump 
exactly, yet something a little like it ; have not some 
people glands naturally enlarged ? — would to Heaven 
he were one ! So he does for himself the work of the 
Plague, and when the Angel of Death, thus courted, 
does indeed, and in truth come, he has only to finish 
that which has been so well begun ; he passes his fiery 
hand over the brain of the victim, and lets him rave 
for a season, but all chance-wise of people, and things 
once dear, or of people, and things indifferent. Once 
more the poor fellow is back at his home in fair Pro- 
vence, and sees the sun-dial that stood in his child- 
hood^ garden — sees part of his mother, and the long- 
since-forgotten face of that little dead sister — (he sees 
her, he says, on a Sunday morning, for all the church 
bells are ringing ;) he looks up and down through the 
universe, and owns it well piled with bales, upon bales 
of cotton, and cotton eternal — so much so, that he feels 
— he knows — he swears he could make that winning 
hazard, if the billiard table would not slant upwards, 
and if the cue were a cue worth playing with; but it is 
not — it 's a cue that won't move — his own arm won't 
move — in short, there's the devil to pay in the brain 
of the poor Levantine, and, perhaps, the next night 
but one he becomes the " life and the soul " of some 
squalling jackal family, who fish him out by the foot 
from his shallow, and sandy grave. 

Better fate was mine ; by some happy perverseness, 
(occasioned perhaps by my disgust at the notion of 
being received with a pair of tongs,) I took it into my 
pleasant head that all the European notions about con- 
tagion were thoroughly unfounded, — that the Plague 
might be providential, or " epidemic," (as they phrase 
it,) but was not contagious, and that I could not be 
killed by the touch of a woman's sleeve, nor yet by 
her blessed breath. I therefore determined that the 



184 



EOTHEN 



Plague should not alter my habits and amusements in 
any one respect. Though I came to this resolve from 
impulse, I think that I took the course which was in 
effect the most prudent, for the cheerfulness of spirits 
which I was thus enabled to retain, discouraged the 
yellow-winged Angel, and prevented him from taking 
a shot at me. I however so far respected the opinion 
of the Europeans, that I avoided touching, when I 
could do so without privation, or inconvenience. This 
endeavour furnished me with a sort of amusement as I 
passed through the streets. The usual mode of moving 
from place to place in the city of Cairo, is upon donkeys, 
of which great numbers are always in readiness, with 
donkey-boys attached. I had two, who constantly 
(until one of them died of the Plague) waited at my 
door upon the chance of being wanted. I found this 
way of moving about exceedingly pleasant, and never 
attempted any other. I had only to mount my beast, 
and tell my donkey-boy the point for which I was 
bound, and instantly I began to glide on at a capital 
pace. The streets of Cairo are not paved in any way, 
but strewed with a dry sandy soil, so deadening to 
sound, that the foot-fall of my donkey could scarcely 
be heard. There is no trottoir, and as you ride through 
the streets, you mingle with the people on foot ; those 
who are in your way, upon being warned by the shouts 
of the donkey-boy move very slightly aside, so as to 
leave you a narrow lane through which you pass at a 
gallop. In this way you glide on delightfully in the 
very midst of crowds, without being inconvenienced or 
stopped for a moment ; it seems to you that it is not 
the donkey, but the donkey-boy who wafts you on with 
his shouts through pleasant groups, and air that 
feels thick with the fragrance of burial spice. " Eh ! 
Sheik, — Eh ! Bint, — reggalek, — shumalek, &c. &c. — 
O old man, O virgin, get out of the way on the right — 
O virgin, O old man, get out of the way on the left, — 
this Englishman comes, he comes, he comes !" The 
narrow alley which these shouts cleared for my passage 



CAIRO AND THE PLAGUE 185 



made it possible, though difficult, to go on for a long 
way without touching a single person, and my en- 
deavours to avoid such contact were a sort of game for 
me in my loneliness, which was not without interest. 
If I got through a street without being touched, I won ; 
if I was touched, I lost, — lost a deuce of a stake, 
according to the theory of the Europeans, but that I 
deemed to be all nonsense, — I only lost that game, and 
would certainly win the next. 

There is not much in the way of public buildings 
to admire at Cairo, but I saw one handsome mosque, 
to which an instructive history is attached. A Hindo- 
stanee merchant, having amassed an immense fortune, 
settled in Cairo, and soon found that his riches in the 
then state of the political world gave him vast power 
in the city, — power, however, the exercise of which was 
much restrained by the counteracting influence of other 
wealthy men. With a view to extinguish every attempt 
at rivalry the Hindostanee merchant built this mag- 
nificent mosque at his own expense ; when the work 
was complete, he invited all the leading men of the 
city to join him in prayer within the walls of the 
newly-built temple, and he then caused to be massacred 
all those who were sufficiently influential to cause him 
any jealousy, or uneasiness, — in short, all " the respect- 
able men " of the place ; after this he possessed un- 
disputed power in the city, and was greatly revered, 
— he is revered to this day. It seemed to me that 
there was a touching simplicity in the mode which this 
man so successfully adopted for gaining the confidence, 
and good will of his fellow-citizens. There seems to 
be some improbability in the story, (though not nearly 
so gross as it might appear to an European ignorant of 
the East, for witness Mehemet Ali's destruction of the 
Mamelukes, a closely similar act, and attended with 
the like brilliant success, 1 ) but even if the story be 

1 Mehemet Ali invited the Mamelukes to a feast, and murdered 
them in the Banquet Hall. 



i86 



EOTHEN 



false, as a mere fact, it is perfectly true as an illus- 
tration, — it is a true exposition of the means by 
which the respect, and affection of Orientals may be 
conciliated. 

I ascended one day to the citadel which commands 
a superb view of the town. The fanciful, and elaborate 
gilt-work of the many minarets gives a light, and florid 
grace to the city as seen from this height, but before 
you can look for many seconds at such things, your 
eyes are drawn westward — drawn westward, and over 
the Nile till they rest with a heavy stare upon the 
massive enormities of the Ghizeh pyramids. 

I saw within the fortress many yoke of men, all 
haggard, and woe-begone, and a kennel of very fine 
lions well fed and flourishing; I say yoke of men, for 
the poor fellows were working together in bonds ; I 
say a kennel of lions ; for the beasts were not enclosed 
in cages, but simply chained up like dogs. 

I went round the Bazaars ; it seemed to me that 
pipes, and arms were cheaper here than at Constan- 
tinople, and I should advise you therefore if you go to 
both places to prefer the market of Cairo. I had pre- 
viously bought several of such things at Constantinople, 
and did not choose to encumber myself, or to speak 
more honestly I did not choose to disencumber my 
purse by making any more purchases. In the open 
slave-market I saw about fifty girls exposed for sale, 
but all of them black, or " invisible M brown. A slave 
agent took me to some rooms in the upper story of the 
building, and also into several obscure houses in the 
neighbourhood, with a view to shew me some white 
women. The owners raised various objections to the 
display of their ware, and well they might, for I had 
not the least notion of purchasing ; some refused on 
account of the illegality of the proceeding, 1 and others 
declared that all transactions of this sort were com- 
pletely out of the question as long as the Plague was 



1 It is not strictly lawful to sell white slaves to a Christian. 



CAIRO AND THE PLAGUE 187 



raging. I only succeeded in seeing one white slave 
who was for sale, but on this one the owner affected to 
set an immense value, and raised my expectations to 
a high pitch, by saying that the girl was Circassian, 
and was " fair as the full Moon." After a good deal of 
delay, I was at last led into a room, at the farther end 
of which was that mass of white linen which indicates 
an Eastern woman ; she was bid to uncover her face, 
and I presently saw that though very far from being 
good looking according to my notion of beauty, she 
had not been inaptly described by the man who com- 
pared her to the full Moon, for her large face was per- 
fectly round, and perfectly white. Though very young, 
she was nevertheless extremely fat. She gave me the 
idea of having been got up for sale, — of having been 
fattened, and whitened by medicines, or by some 
peculiar diet. I was firmly determined not to see any 
more of her than the face ; she was perhaps disgusted 
at this my virtuous resolve, as well as with my personal 
appearance, — perhaps she saw my distaste, and dis- 
appointment ; perhaps she wished to gain favour with 
her owner by shewing her attachment to his faith ; 
at all events she holloaed out very lustily, and very 
decidedly that, " she would not be bought by the 
Infidel." 

Whilst I remained at Cairo, I thought it worth while 
to see something of the Magicians, who may be con- 
sidered as it were the descendants of those who con- 
tended so stoutly against the superior power of Aaron. 
I therefore sent for an old man who was held to be the 
chief of the Magicians, and desired him to shew me 
the wonders of his art. The old man looked, and 
dressed his character exceedingly well ; the vast 
turban, the flowing beard, and the ample robes were 
all that one could wish in the way of appearance. The 
first experiment (a very stale one,) which he attempted 
to perform for me, was that of attempting to shew 
the forms, and faces of my absent friends, not to me, 
but to a boy brought in from the streets for the 



EOTHEN 



purpose, and said to be chosen at random. A mangale 
(pan of burning charcoal) was brought into my room, 
and the Magician bending over it, sprinkled upon the 
fire some substances which must have consisted partly 
of spices, or sweetly burning woods, for immediately a 
fragrant smoke arose, which curled round the bending 
form of the Wizard, the while that he pronounced his 
first incantations ; when these were over, the boy was 
made to sit down, and a common green shade was 
bound over his brow ; then the Wizard took ink, and 
still continuing his incantations, wrote certain mys- 
terious figures upon the boy's palm, and directed him 
to rivet his attention to these marks, without looking 
aside for an instant : again the incantations proceeded, 
and after a while the boy being seemingly a little 
agitated, was asked whether he saw anything on the 
palm of his hand ; he declared that he saw a kind of 
military procession with flags, and banners which he 
described rather minutely. I was then called upon to 
name the absent person whose form was to be made 
visible. I named Keate. You were not at Eton, and 
I must tell you, therefore, what manner of man it was 
that I named, though I think you must have some 
idea of him already, for wherever from utmost Canada 
to Bundelcund, — wherever there was the white-washed 
wall of an officer's room, or of any other apartment in 
which English gentlemen are forced to kick their 
heels, there, likely enough (in the days of his reign,) 
the head of Keate would be seen, scratched, or drawn 
with those various degrees of skill which one observes 
in the representations of Saints. Any body without 
the least notion of drawing could still draw a speaking, 
nay scolding likeness of Keate. If you had no pencil, 
you could draw him well enough with a poker, or the 
leg of a chair, or the smoke of a candle. He was little 
more (if more at all) than five feet in height, and was 
not very great in girth, but in this space was con- 
centrated the pluck of ten battalions. He had a really 
noble voice, which he could modulate with great skill, 



CAIRO AND THE PLAGUE 189 



but he had also the power of quacking like an angry- 
duck, and he almost always adopted this mode of 
communication in order to inspire respect ; he was a 
capital scholar, but his ingenuous learning had not 
" softened his manners," and had " permitted them to 
be fierce " — tremendously fierce ; he had the most 
complete command over his temper — I mean, over his 
good temper, which he scarcely ever allowed to appear ; 
you could not put him out of humour — that is out of 
the ///-humour which he thought to be fitting for a 
head master. His red, shaggy eyebrows were so pro- 
minent, that he habitually used them as arms, and 
hands for the purpose of pointing out any object 
towards which he wished to direct attention ; and the 
rest of his features were equally striking in their way, 
and. were all and all his own ; he wore a fancy dress, 
partly resembling the costume of Napoleon, and partly 
that of a widow-woman. I could not by any pos- 
sibility have named anybody more decidedly differing 
in appearance from the rest of the human race. 

" Whom do you name ? " — " I name John Keate." 
— " Now, what do you see ? " said the Wizard to the 
boy. — " I see," answered the boy, " I see a fair girl 
with golden hair, blue eyes, pallid face, rosy lips." 
There was a shot ! I shouted out my laughter to the 
horror of the Wizard, who perceiving the grossness of 
his failure, declared that the boy must have known 
sin, (for none but the innocent can see truth) and ac- 
cordingly kicked him down stairs. 

One or two other boys were tried, but none could 
" see truth ; " they all made sadly " bad shots." 

Notwithstanding the failure of these experiments, I 
wished to see what sort of mummery my Magician 
would practise if I called upon him to shew me some 
performances of a higher order than those which had 
been attempted ; I therefore entered into a treaty with 
him, in virtue of which he was to descend with me into 
the tombs near the Pyramids, and there evoke the 
Devil. The negotiation lasted some time, for Dthe- 



190 



EOTHEN 



metri, as in duty bound, tried to beat down the Wizard 
as much as he could, and the Wizard on his part, man- 
fully stuck up for his price, declaring that to raise the 
Devil was really no joke, and insinuating that to do so 
was an awesome crime. I let Dthemetri have his way 
in the negotiation, but I felt in reality very indifferent 
about the sum to be paid, and for this reason, namely, 
that the payment, (except a very small present, which 
I might make, or not, as I chose) was to be contingent 
on success. At length the bargain was made, and it 
was arranged that after a few days to be allowed for 
preparation, the Wizard should raise the Devil for two 
pounds ten, play or pay — no Devil, no piastres. 

The Wizard failed to keep his appointment. I sent 
to know why the deuce he had not come to raise the 
Devil. The truth was, that my Mahomet had gone to 
the mountain. The Plague had seized him, and he 
died. 

Although the Plague had now spread terrible havoc 
around him, I did not see very plainly any correspond- 
ing change in the look of the streets until the seventh 
day after my arrival ; I then first observed that the 
city was silenced. There was no outward signs of 
Despair, nor of violent terror, but many of the voices 
that had swelled the busy hum of men were already 
hushed in death, and the survivors, so used to scream, 
and screech in their earnestness whenever they bought, 
or sold, now shewed an unwonted indifference about 
the affairs of this world ; it was less worth while for 
men to haggle, and haggle, and crack the sky with 
noisy bargains, when the Great Commander was there, 
who could "pay all their debts with the roll of his 
drum." 

At this time, (the year was 1835,) * waLS informed 
that of 25,000 people at Alexandria, 12,000 had died 
already ; the Destroyer had come rather later to Cairo, 
but there was nothing of weariness in his strides. The 
deaths came faster than ever they befell in the Plague 
of London, but the calmness of Orientals under such 



CAIRO AND THE PLAGUE 191 



visitations, and the habit of using biers for interment, 
instead of burying coffins along with the bodies, 
rendered it practicable to dispose of the Dead in the 
usual way, without shocking the people by any un- 
accustomed spectacle of horror. There was no tum- 
bling of bodies into carts as in the Plague of Florence, 
and the Plague of London ; every man, according to 
his station, was properly buried, and that in the usual 
way, except that he went to his grave at a more hurried 
pace than might have been adopted under ordinary 
circumstances. 

The funerals, which poured through the streets, were 
not the only public evidence of deaths. In Cairo this 
custom prevails ; at the instant of a man's death, (if 
his property is sufficient to justify the expense) pro- 
fessional howlers are employed ; I believe that these 
persons are brought near to the dying man, when his 
end appears to be approaching, and the moment that 
life is gone, they lift up their voices, and send forth a 
loud wail from the chamber of Death. Thus I knew 
when my near neighbours died ; sometimes the howls 
were near ; sometimes more distant. Once I was 
awakened in the night by the wail of death in the next 
house, and another time by a like howl from the house 
opposite ; and there were two or three minutes, I 
recollect, during which the howl seemed to be actually 
running along the street. 

I happened to be rather teazed at this time by a sore 
throat, and I thought it would be well to get it cured, 
if I could, before I again started on my travels. I 
therefore inquired for a Frank doctor, and was in- 
formed that the only one then at Cairo was a young 
Bolognese Refugee, who was so poor that he had not 
been able to take flight, as the other medical men had 
done. At such a time as this, it was out of the question 
to send for an European physician ; a person thus 
summoned would be sure to suppose that the patient 
was ill of the Plague, and would decline to come. I 
therefore rode to the young Doctor's residence ; after 



192 



EOTHEN 



experiencing some little difficulty in finding where to 
look for him, I ascended a flight or two of stairs, and 
knocked at his door. No one came immediately, but 
after some little delay the Medico himself opened the 
door, and admitted me. I, of course, made him under- 
stand that I had come to consult him, but before enter- 
ing upon my throat grievance, I accepted a chair, and 
exchanged a sentence or two of common-place con- 
versation. Now the natural common-place of the city at 
this season was of a gloomy sort — " Come va la peste ? " 
(how goes the plague?) and this was precisely the 
question I put. A deep sigh, and the words " Sette 
cento per giorno, Signor," (seven hundred a day), pro- 
nounced in a tone of the deepest sadness and dejection, 
were the answer I received. The day was not oppres- 
sively hot, yet I saw that the Doctor was transpiring 
profusely, and even the outside surface of the thick 
shawl dressing gown, in which he had wrapped him- 
self appeared to be moist ; he was a handsome, 
pleasant-looking, young fellow, but the deep melancholy 
of his tone did not tempt me to prolong the conversa- 
tion, and without farther delay, I requested that my 
throat might be looked at. The Medico held my chin 
in the usual way, and examined my throat ; he then 
wrote me a prescription, and almost immediately after- 
wards I bid him farewell, but as he conducted me 
towards the door I observed an expression of strange, 
and unhappy watchfulness in his rolling eyes. It was 
not the next day, but the next day but one, if I rightly 
remember, that I sent to request another interview with 
my Doctor ; in due time Dthemetri, who was my 
messenger, returned, looking sadly aghast — he had 
" met the Medico," for so he phrased it, " coming out 
from his house — in a bier ! " 

It was of course plain that when the poor Bolognese 
was looking at my throat, and almost mingling his 
breath with mine, he was stricken of the Plague. I 
suppose that the violent sweat in which I found him 
had been produced by some medicine, which he must 



CAIRO AND THE PLAGUE 193 



have taken in the hope of curing himself. The peculiar 
rolling of the eyes which I had remarked, is, I believe, 
to experienced observers, a pretty sure test of the 
Plague. A Russian acquaintance of mine, speaking 
from the information of men who had made the Turkish 
campaigns of 1828, and 1829, told me that by this sign 
the officers of Sabalkansky's force were able to make 
out the Plague-stricken soldiers with a good deal of 
certainty. 

It so happened that most of the people with whom I 
had anything to do, during my stay at Cairo, were 
seized with Plague, and all these died. Since I had 
been for a long time en route before I reached Egypt, 
and was about to start again for another long journey 
over the Desert, there were of course many little 
matters touching my wardrobe, and my travelling 
equipments, which required to be attended to whilst I 
remained in the city. It happened so many times 
that Dthemetri's orders in respect to these matters 
were frustrated by the deaths of the tradespeople, and 
others whom he employed, that at last I became quite 
accustomed to the peculiar manner which he assumed 
when he prepared to announce a new death to me. 
The poor fellow naturally supposed that I should feel 
some uneasiness at hearing of the "accidents" which 
happened to persons employed by me, and he therefore 
communicated their deaths, as though they were the 
deaths of friends ; he would cast down his eyes, and 
look like a man abashed, and then gently, and with a 
mournful gesture allow the words " Morto, Signor," to 
come through his lips. I don't know how many of 
such instances occurred, but they were several, and 
besides these (as I told you before,) my banker, my 
doctor, my landlord, and my magician, all died of the 
Plague. A lad who acted as a helper in the house 
which I occupied, lost a brother, and a sister within a 
few hours. Out of my two established donkey-boys 
one died. I did not hear of any instance in which a 
plague-stricken patient had recovered. 

O 



194 



EOTHEN 



Going out one morning, I met unexpectedly the 
scorching breath of the Khamseen wind, and fearing 
that I should faint under the horrible sensations which 
it caused, I returned to my rooms. Reflecting, how- 
ever, that I might have to encounter this wind in the 
desert, where there would be no possibility of avoiding 
it, I thought it would be better to brave it once more 
in the city, and to try whether I could really bear it or 
not. I therefore mounted my ass, and rode to old 
Cairo, and along the gardens by the banks of the Nile. 
The wind was hot to the touch as though it came from 
a furnace ; it blew strongly, but yet with such perfect 
steadiness, that the trees bending under its force re- 
mained fixed in the same curves without perceptibly 
waving ; the whole sky was obscured by a veil of 
yellowish gray, which shut out the face of the sun. 
The streets were utterly silent, being indeed almost 
entirely deserted, and not without cause, for the scorch- 
ing blast, whilst it fevers the blood, closes up the pores 
of the skin, and is terribly distressing, therefore, to 
every animal that encounters tit. I returned to my 
rooms dreadfully ill. My head ached with a burning 
pain, and my pulse bounded quick, and fitfully, but 
perhaps, (as in the instance of the poor Levantine, 
whose death I was mentioning,) the fear, and excite- 
ment which I felt in trying my own wrist, may have 
made my blood flutter the faster. 

It is a thoroughly well believed theory, that during 
the continuance of the Plague, you can't be ill of any 
other febrile malady ; an unpleasant privilege that ! 
for ill I was, and ill of fever, and I anxiously wished 
that the ailment might turn out to be anything rather 
than Plague. I had some right to surmise that my 
illness may have been merely the effect of the hot 
wind, and this notion was encouraged by the elasticity 
of my spirits, and by a strong forefeeling that much of 
my destined life in this world was yet to come, and yet 
to be fulfilled. That was my instinctive belief, but 
when I carefully weighed the probabilities on the one 



CAIRO AND THE PLAGUE 195 

side, and on the other, I could not help seeing that the 
strength of argument was all against me. There was 
a strong antecedent likelihood in favour of my being 
struck by the same blow, as the rest of the people who 
had been dying around me. Besides, it occurred to 
me, that after all, the universal opinion of the Euro- 
peans upon a medical question, such as that of con- 
tagion might probably be correct, and if it were^ I was 
so thoroughly " compromised," and especially by the 
touch, and breath of the dying Medico, that 1 had no 
right to expect any other fate than that which now 
seemed to have overtaken me. Balancing as well as 
I could all the considerations which hope, and fear 
suggested, I slowly, and reluctantly came to the con- 
clusion that according to all merely reasonable prob- 
ability the Plague had come upon me. 

You would supfpose that this conviction would have 
induced me to write a few farewell lines to those who 
were dearest, and that having done that, I should have 
turned my thoughts towards the world to come. Such, 
however, was not the case ; I believe that the prospect 
of death often brings with it strong anxieties about 
matters of comparatively trivial import, and certainly 
with me the whole energy of the mind was directed 
towards the one petty object of concealing my illness 
until the latest possible moment — until the delirious 
stage. I did not believe that either Mysseri, or 
Dthemetri, who had served me so faithfully in all 
trials, would have deserted me (as most Europeans 
are wont to do) when they knew that I was stricken 
by Plague, but I shrank from the idea of putting them 
to this test, and I dreaded the consternation which the 
knowledge of my illness would be sure to occasion. 

I was very ill indeed at the moment when my dinner 
was served, and my soul sickened at the sight of the 
food, but I had luckily the habit of dispensing with the 
attendance of servants during my meal, and as soon as 
I was left alone, I made a melancholy calculation of 
the quantity of food which I should have eaten if I 



EOTHEN 



had been in my usual health, and filled my plates 
accordingly, and gave myself salt, and so on, as though 
I were going to dine; I then transferred the viands to 
a piece of the omnipresent " Times " newspaper, and 
hid them away in a cupboard, for it was not yet night, 
and I dared not to throw the food into the street until 
darkness came. I did not at all relish this process of 
fictitious dining, but at length the cloth was removed, 
and I gladly reclined on my divan, (I would not lie 
down,) with the "Arabian Nights" in my hand. 

I had a feeling that tea would be a capital thing for 
me, but I would not order it until the usual hour. 
When at last the time came, I drank deep draughts 
from the fragrant cup. The effect was almost instan- 
taneous. A plenteous sweat burst through my skin, 
and watered my clothes through and through. I kept 
myself thickly covered. The hot, tormenting weight 
which had been loading my brain was slowly heaved 
away. The fever was extinguished. I felt a new 
buoyancy of spirits, and an unusual activity of mind. 
I went into my bed under a load of thick covering, 
and when the morning came, and I asked myself how 
I was, I found that I was thoroughly well. 

I was very anxious to procure, if possible, some 
medical advice for Mysseri, whose illness prevented 
my departure. Every one of the European practising 
doctors, of whom there had been many, had either 
died or fled ; it was said, however, that there was an 
Englishman in the medical service of the Pasha, who 
quietly remained at his post, but that he never engaged 
in private practice. I determined to try if I could 
obtain assistance in this quarter. I did not venture at 
first, and at such a time as this to ask him to visit 
a servant who was prostrate on the bed of sickness, 
but thinking that I might thus gain an opportunity of 
persuading him to attend Mysseri, I wrote a note 
mentioning my own affair of the sore throat, and ask- 
ing for the benefit of his medical advice ; he instantly 
followed back my messenger, and was at once shewn 



CAIRO AND THE PLAGUE 197 



up into my room ; I entreated him to stand off, telling 
him fairly how deeply I was " compromised," and 
especially by my contact with a person actually ill, and 
since dead of Plague. The generous fellow, with a 
good-humoured laugh at the terrors of the contagion- 
ists, marched straight up to me, and forcibly seized my 
hand, and shook it with manly violence. I felt grate- 
ful indeed, and swelled with fresh pride of race, because 
that my countryman could carry himself so nobly. He 
soon cured Mysseri, as well as me, and all this he did 
from no other motives than the pleasure of doing a 
kindness, and the delight of braving a danger. 

At length the great difficulty 1 which I had had in 
procuring beasts for my departure was overcome, and 
now, too, I was to have the new excitement of travel- 
ling on dromedaries. With two of these beasts, and 
three camels, I gladly wound my way from out of the 
pest-stricken city. As I passed through the streets, I 
observed a fanatical-looking elder, who stretched forth 
his arms, and lifted up his voice in a speech which 
seemed to have some reference to me ; requiring an 
interpretation, I found that the man had said, "The 
Pasha seeks camels, and he finds them not — the Eng- 
lishman says, 'let camels be brought, 5 and behold — 
there they are ! " 

I no sooner breathed the free, wholesome air of the 
desert, than I felt that a great burthen which I had 
been scarcely conscious of bearing, was lifted away 
from my mind. For nearly three weeks I had lived 
under peril of death ; the peril ceased, and not till then 
did I know how much alarm, and anxiety I had really 
been suffering. 

1 The difficulty was occasioned by the immense exertions 
which the Pasha was making to collect camels for military pur- 
poses. 



CHAPTER XIX 



THE PYRAMIDS 

I WE NT to see, and to explore the Pyramids. 
Familiar to one from the days of early childhood 
are the forms of the Egyptian Pyramids, and now, as 
I approached them from the banks of the Nile, I had 
no print, no picture before me, and yet the old shapes 
were there ; there was no change ; they were just as I 
had always known them. I straightened myself in my 
stirrups, and strived to persuade my understanding 
that this was real Egypt, and that those angles which 
stood up between me and the West were of harder 
stuff, and more ancient than the paper pyramids of the 
green portfolio. Yet it was not till I came to the base 
of the great Pyramid, that reality began to weigh 
upon my mind. Strange to say, the bigness of the 
distinct blocks of stone was the first sign by which I 
attained to feel the immensity of the whole pile. When 
I came, and trod, and touched with my hands, and 
climbed, in order that by climbing I might come to 
the top of one single stone, then, and almost suddenly, 
a cold sense and understanding of the Pyramid's 
enormity, came down overcasting my brain. 

Now try to endure this homely, sick-nursish illustra- 
tion of the effect produced upon one's mind by the 
mere vastness of the great Pyramid : when I was very 
young (between the ages, I believe, of three, and five 
years old,) being then of delicate health, I was often 
in time of night the victim of a strange kind of mental 
oppression ; I lay in my bed perfectly conscious, and 



THE PYRAMIDS 



199 



with open eyes, but without power to speak, or to 
move, and all the while my brain was oppressed to 
distraction by the presence of a single, and abstract 
idea, — the idea of solid Immensity. It seemed to me 
in my agonies, that the horror of this visitation arose 
from its coming upon me without form, or shape — that 
the close presence of the direst monster ever bred in 
Hell would have been a thousand times more tolerable, 
than that simple idea of solid size ; my aching mind 
was fixed, and ri vetted down upon the mere quality of 
vastness, vastness, vastness ; and was not permitted 
to invest with it any particular object. If I could have 
done so, the torment would have ceased. When at 
last I was roused from this state of suffering, I could 
not of course in those days (knowing no verbal meta- 
physics, and no metaphysics at all, except by the 
dreadful experience of an abstract idea,) I could not 
of course find words to describe the nature of my 
sensations, and even now I cannot explain why it is 
that the forced contemplation of a mere quality, dis- 
tinct from matter, should be so terrible. Well, now 
my eyes saw and knew, and my hands and my feet in- 
formed my understanding that there was nothing at 
all abstract about the great Pyramid, — it was a big 
triangle, sufficiently concrete, easy to see, and rough 
to the touch ; it could not, of course, affect me with 
the peculiar sensation which I had been talking of, 
but yet there was something akin to that old night- 
mare agony in the terrible completeness with which 
a mere mass of masonry could fill, and load my 
mind. 

And Time too ; the remoteness of its origin, no less 
than the enormity of its proportions, screens an 
Egyptian Pyramid from the easy, and familiar contact 
of our modern minds ; at its base the common Earth 
ends, and all above is a world, — one not created of 
God, — not seeming to be made by men's hands, but 
rather, the sheer giant-work of some old dismal age 
weighing down this younger planet. 



200 



EOTHEN 



Fine sayings ! but the truth seems to be, after all, 
that the Pyramids are quite of this world ; that they 
were piled up into the air for the realization of some 
kingly crotchets about immortality, — some priestly 
longing for burial fees ; and that as for the building — 
they were built like coral rocks by swarms of insects, — 
by swarms of poor Egyptians, who were not only the 
abject tools, and slaves of power, but who also eat 
onions for the reward of their immortal labours ! 1 
The Pyramids are quite of this world. 

1 of course ascended to the summit of the great 
Pyramid, and also explored its chambers, but these I 
need not describe. The first time that I went to the 
Pyramids of Ghizeh, there were a number of Arabs 
hanging about in its neighbourhood, and wanting to 
receive presents on various pretences ; their Sheik was 
with them. There was also present an ill-looking 
fellow in soldier's uniform. This man on my departure 
claimed a reward, on the ground that he had main- 
tained order and decorum amongst the Arabs ; his 
claim was not considered valid by my Dragoman, and 
was rejected accordingly : my donkey-boys afterwards 
said they had overheard this fellow propose to the 
Sheik to put me to death whilst I was in the interior 
of the great Pyramid, and to share with him the booty ; 
fancy a struggle for life in one of those burial chambers, 
with acres, and acres of solid masonry between one- 
self, and the daylight ! I felt exceedingly glad that I 
had not made the rascal a present. 

I visited the very ancient Pyramids of Aboucir, and 
Sakkara ; there are many of these, and of various 
shapes, and sizes, and it struck me that taken together 
they might be considered as shewing the progress and 
perfection (such as it is,) of Pyramidical Architecture. 
One of the Pyramids at Sakkara is almost a rival for 
the full grown monster of Ghizeh ; others are scarcely 
more than vast heaps of brick and stone ; these last 

1 Herodotus, in an after age, stood by with his note book, and 
got, as he thought, the exact returns of all the rations served out. 



THE PYRAMIDS 



20I 



suggested to me the idea that after all the Pyramid is 
nothing more nor less than a variety of the sepulchral 
mound so common in most countries (including I believe 
Hindostan, from whence the Egyptians are supposed 
to have come). Men accustomed to raise these struc- 
tures for their dead Kings, or conquerors, would carry 
the usage with them in their migrations, but arriving 
in Egypt, and seeing the impossibility of finding earth 
sufficiently tenacious for a mound, they would approxi- 
mate as nearly as might be to their ancient custom by 
raising up a round heap of these stones, — in short, 
conical pyramids ; of these there are several at Sakkara, 
and the materials of some are thrown together without 
any order, or regularity. The transition from this 
simple form to that of the square angular pyramid, 
was easy and natural, and it seemed to me that the 
gradations through which the style passed from infancy 
up to its mature enormity, could plainly be traced at 
Sakkara. 



CHAPTER XX 



THE SPHYNX 

AND near the Pyramids, more wondrous, and more 
awful than all else in the land of Egypt, there sits 
the lonely Sphynx. Comely the creature is, but the 
comeliness is not of this world ; the once worshipped 
beast is a deformity, and a monster to this generation, 
and yet you can see that those lips, so thick and heavy, 
were fashioned according to some ancient mould of 
beauty — some mould of beauty now forgotten — for- 
gotten because that Greece drew forth Cytherea from 
the flashing foam of the ^Egean, and in her image 
created new forms of beauty, and made it a law among 
men that the short, and proudly wreathed lip should 
stand for the sign and the main condition of loveliness, 
through all generations to come. Yet still there lives 
on the race of those who were beautiful in the fashion 
of the elder world, and Christian girls of Coptic blood 
will look on you with the sad, serious gaze, and kiss 
you your charitable hand with the big, pouting lips of 
the very Sphynx. 

Laugh, and mock if you will at the worship of stone 
idols, but mark ye this, ye breakers of images, that in 
one regard, the stone idol bears awful semblance of 
Deity — unchangefulness in the midst of change — the 
same seeming will, and intent for ever, and ever in- 
exorable ! Upon ancient dynasties of Ethiopian and 
Egyptian Kings — upon Greek, and Roman, upon Arab, 
and Ottoman conquerors— upon Napoleon dreaming 
of an Eastern Empire — upon battle and Pestilence — 



THE SPHYNX 



203 



upon the ceaseless misery of the Egyptian race — upon 
keen-eyed travellers — Herodotus yesterday, and War- 
burton 1 to-day — upon all, and more this unworldly 
Sphynx has watched, and watched like a Providence 
with the same earnest eyes, and the same sad, tranquil 
mien. And we, we shall die, and Islam will wither 
away, and the Englishman leaning far over to hold his 
loved India, will plant a firm foot on the banks of the 
Nile, and sit in the seats of the Faithful, and still that 
sleepless rock will lie watching, and watching the 
works of the new, busy race, with those same sad, 
earnest eyes, and the same tranquil mien everlasting. 
You dare not mock at the Sphynx. 

1 Eliot Warburton, who is known to be the author of those 
brilliantly sparkling papers, the " Episodes of Eastern Travel," 
which lit up our last November. His book (" The Crescent and 
the Cross,") must, and will be capital. 



CHAPTER XXI 



CAIRO TO SUEZ 

THE " Dromedary," of Egypt, and Syria is not the 
two-humped animal described by that name in 
books of natural history, but is in fact of the same 
family as the camel, to which it stands in about the 
same relation as a racer to a cart-horse. The fleetness, 
and endurance of this creature are extraordinary. It 
is not usual to force him into a gallop, and I fancy 
from his make that it would be quite impossible for 
him to maintain that pace for any length of time, but 
the animal is on so large a scale, that the jog-trot at 
which he is generally ridden implies a progress of per- 
haps ten or twelve miles an hour, and this pace, it is 
said, he can keep up incessantly without food, or water, 
or rest for three whole days, and nights. 

Of the two dromedaries which I had obtained for 
this journey, I mounted one myself, and put Dthemetri 
on the other. My plan was, to ride on with Dthemetri 
to Suez as rapidly as the fleetness of the beasts would 
allow, and to let Mysseri, (who was still weak from the 
effects of his late illness) come quietly on with the 
camels, and baggage. 

The trot of the Dromedary is a pace terribly dis- 
agreeable to the rider, until he becomes a little 
accustomed to it ; but after the first half hour I so far 
schooled myself to this new exercise, that I felt capable 
of keeping it up (though not without aching limbs) for 
several hours together. Now, therefore, I was anxious 
to dart forward, and annihilate at once the whole space 



CAIRO TO SUEZ 



205 



that divided me from the Red Sea. Dthemetri, how- 
ever, could not get on at all ; every attempt which he 
made to trot seemed to threaten the utter dislocation 
of his whole frame, and indeed I doubt whether any 
one of Dthemetri's age (nearly forty I think,) and un- 
accustomed to such exercise could have borne it at all 
easily ; besides, the dromedary which fell to his lot was 
evidently a very bad one ; he every now and then 
came to a dead stop, and coolly knelt down as though 
suggesting that the rider had better get off at once, 
and abandon the attempt as one that was utterly hope- 
less. 

When for the third, or fourth time I saw Dthemetri 
thus planted, I lost my patience, and went on without 
him. For about two hours, I think, I advanced with- 
out once looking behind me. I then paused, and cast 
my eyes back to the western horizon. There was no 
sign of Dthemetri, nor of any other living creature. 
This I expected, for I knew that I must have far 
out-distanced all my followers. I had ridden away 
from my party merely by way of gratifying my im- 
patience, and with the intention of stopping as soon as 
I felt tired, until I was overtaken. I now observed, 
however, (which I had not been able to do whilst ad- 
vancing so rapidly) that the track which I had been 
following was seemingly the track of only one, or two 
camels. I did not fear that I had diverged very largely 
from the true route, but still I could not feel any 
reasonable certainty, that my party would follow any 
line of march within sight of me. 

I had to consider, therefore, whether I should remain 
where I was, upon the chance of seeing my people 
come up, or whether I would push on alone, and find 
my way to Suez. I had now learned that I could not 
rely upon the continued guidance of any track, but I 
knew that (if maps were right) the point for which I 
was bound bore just due East of Cairo, and I thought 
that although I might miss the line leading most 
directly to Suez, I could not well fail to find my way 



206 



EOTHEN 



sooner or later to the Red Sea. The worst of it was 
that I had no provision of food or water with me, and 
already I was beginning to feel thirst. I deliberated 
for a minute, and then determined that I would 
abandon all hope of seeing my party again in the 
desert, and would push forward as rapidly as possible 
towards Suez. 

It was not, I confess, without a sensation of awe that 
I swept with my sight the vacant round of the horizon, 
and remembered that I was all alone, and unprovi- 
sioned in the midst of the arid waste, but this very awe 
gave tone, and zest to the exultation with which I felt 
myself launched. Hitherto, in all my wanderings I 
had been under the care of other people — sailors, 
Tatars, guides, and Dragomen had watched over my 
welfare, but now at last, I was here in this African 
desert, and I myself, and no other had chai'ge of my 
life j I liked the office well ; I had the greatest part of 
the day before me, a very fair dromedary, a fur pelisse, 
and a brace of pistols, but no bread, and no water; for 
that I must ride, — and ride I did. 

For several hours I urged forward my beast at a 
rapid, though steady pace, but now the pangs of thirst 
began to torment me. I did not relax my pace how- 
ever, and I had not suffered long, when a moving 
object appeared in the distance before me. The in- 
tervening space was soon traversed, and I found my- 
self approaching a Bedouin Arab mounted on a camel, 
attended by another Bedouin on foot. They stopped. 
I saw that, as usual, there hung from the pack-saddle 
of the camel, a large skin water-flask, which seemed 
to be well filled ; I steered my dromedary close up 
alongside of the mounted Bedouin, caused my beast 
to kneel down, then alighted, and keeping the end of 
the halter in my hand, went up to the mounted Bedouin 
without speaking, took hold of his water-flask, opened 
it, and drank long, and deep from its leathern lips. 
Both of the Bedouins stood fast in amazement, and 
mute horror ; and really if they had never happened 



CAIRO TO SUEZ 



207 



to see an European before, the apparition was enough 
to startle them. To see for the first time a coat, and 
a waistcoat with the pale semblance of a human head 
at the top, and for this ghastly figure to come swiftly 
out of the horizon, upon a fleet dromedary — approach 
them silently, and with a demoniacal smile, and drink 
a deep draught from their water-flask — this was enough 
to make the Bedouins stare a little ; they, in fact, 
stared a great deal — not as Europeans stare with a 
restless, and puzzled expression of countenance, but 
with features all fixed, and rigid, and with still, glassy 
eyes ; before they had time to get decomposed from 
their state of petrifaction, I had remounted my drome- 
dary, and was starting away towards the East. 

Without pause, or remission of pace, I continued to 
press forward, but after a while, I found, to my con- 
fusion, that the slight track, which had hitherto guided 
me, now failed altogether ; I began to fear that I must 
have been all along following the course of some 
wandering Bedouins, and I felt that if this were the case, 
my fate was a little uncertain. To comfort myself, I 
began to nurse up a theory that death by thirst was not 
so terrible as inexperienced people were apt to imagine. 
(Say what you will, there is comfort in theories ; some 
of the repudiating Americans of the United States 
entertain a theory that they are distinguishable from 
common swindlers, and the national pride of the 
"young Republic" is wholly supported by the indul- 
gence of this singular fancy.) 

I had no compass with me, but I determined upon 
the eastern point of the horizon as accurately as I could, 
by reference to the sun, and so laid down for myself a 
way over the pathless sands. 

But now my poor dromedary, by whose life and 
strength I held my own, she began to shew signs of 
distress; a thick, clammy, and glutinous kind of foam 
gathered about her lips, and piteous sobs burst from 
her bosom in the tones of human misery; I doubted, 
for a moment, whether I would give her a little rest, 



208 



EOTHEN 



or relaxation of pace, but I decided that I would 
not, and continued to push forward as steadily as 
before. 

The character of the country became changed ; I 
had ridden away from the level tracts, and before me 
now, and on either side, there were vast hills of sand, 
and calcined rocks that interrupted my progress, and 
baffled my doubtful road, but I did my best ; with 
rapid steps I swept round the base of the hills, threaded 
the winding hollows, and at last, as I rose in my swift ; 
course to the crest of a lofty ridge, Thalatta ! Thalatta ! 
by Jove ! I saw the Sea ! 

My tongue can tell where to find the clue to many an 
old pagan creed, because that (distinctly from all mere 
admiration of the beauty belonging to Nature's works,) 
I acknowledge a sense of mystical reverence, when 
first I look, to see some illustrious feature of the globe 
— some coast-line of Ocean — some mighty river, or 
dreary mountain range, the ancient barrier of king- 
doms. But the Red Sea ! It might well claim my 
earnest gaze by force of the great Jewish migration 
which connects it with the history of our own Religion. 
From this very ridge, it is likely enough, the panting 
Israelites first saw that shining inlet of the sea. Ay ! 
ay ! but moreover, and best of all, that beckoning Sea 
assured my eyes, and proved how well I had marked 
out the East for my path, and gave me good promise 
that sooner, or later the time would come for me to 
rest, and drink. It was distant, the Sea, but I felt my j 
own strength, and I had heard of the strength of dro- 
medaries. I pushed forward as eagerly as though I j 
had spoiled the Egyptians, and were flying from Pha- j 
raoh's police. 

I had not yet been able to discover any symptoms of j 
Suez, but after a while I descried in the distance a! 
large, blank, isolated building ; I made towards this, 
and in time got down to it. The building was a fort, j 
and had been built there for the protection of a well, 
which it contained within its precincts. A cluster of! 



CAIRO TO SUEZ 



209 



small huts adhered to the fort, and in a short time I 
was receiving the hospitality of the inhabitants who 
were grouped upon the sands near their hamlet. To 
quench the fires of my throat with about a gallon of 
muddy water, and to swallow a little of the food placed 
before me, was the work of few minutes, and before 
the astonishment of my hosts had even begun to sub- 
side, I was pursuing my onward journey. Suez, I 
found was still three hours distant, and the Sun going 
down in the West warned me that I must find some 
other guide to keep me in the right direction. This 
guide I found in the most fickle and uncertain of the 
elements. For some hours the wind had been freshen- 
ing, and it now blew a violent gale ; it blew not fitfully, 
and in squalls, but with such remarkable steadiness 
that I felt convinced it would come from the same 
quarter, for several hours. When the Sun set, there- 
fore, I carefully looked for the point from which the 
wind was blowing, and found that it came from the 
very West, and was blowing exactly in the direction 
of my route. I had nothing to do therefore but to go 
straight to leeward, and this was not difficult, for the 
gale blew with such immense force that if I diverged 
at all from its line I instantly felt the pressure of the 
blast on the side towards which I was deviating. Very 
soon after sun-set there came on complete darkness, 
but the strong wind guided me well, and sped me too 
on my way. 

I had pushed on for about, I think, a couple of hours 
after night-fall, when I saw the glimmer of a light in 
the distance, and this I ventured to hope must be 
Suez. Upon approaching it, however, I found that it 
was only a solitary fort, and I passed on without 
stopping. 

On I went, still riding down the wind, when an un- 
lucky accident occurred, for which, if you like, you can 
have your laugh against me. I have told you already 
what sort of lodging it is which you have upon the 
back of a camel. You ride the dromedary in the 

p 



2IO 



EOTHEN 



same fashion ; you are perched rather than seated 
upon a bunch of carpets, or quilts upon the summit of 
the hump. It happened that my dromedary veered 
rather suddenly from her onward course ; meeting the 
movement, I mechanically turned my left wrist as 
though I were holding a bridle rein, for the complete 
darkness prevented my eyes from reminding me that 
I had nothing but a halter in my hand ; the expected 
resistance failed, for the halter was hanging upon that 
side of the dromedary's neck towards which I was 
slightly leaning ; I toppled over, head foremost, and 
then went falling, and falling through air till my crown 
came whang against the ground. And the ground too 
was perfectly hard, (compacted sand) but the thickly 
wadded head-gear which I wore for protection against 
the sun saved my life. The notion of my being able 
to get up again after falling head-foremost from such 
an immense height seemed to me at first too para- 
doxical to be acted upon, but I soon found that I was 
not a bit hurt. My dromedary utterly vanished ; I 
looked round me, and saw the glimmer of a light in 
the fort which I had lately passed, and I began to 
work my way back in that direction. The violence of 
the gale made it hard for me to force my way towards 
the West, but I succeeded at last in regaining the fort. 
To this, as to the other fort which I had passed, there 
was attached a cluster of huts, and I soon found my- 
self surrounded by a group of villanous, gloomy look- 
ing fellows. It was a horrid bore for me to have to 
swagger, and look big at a time when I felt so par- 
ticularly small on account of my tumble, and my lost 
dromedary, but there was no help for it; I had no 
Dthemetri now to "strike terror" for me. I knew 
hardly one word of Arabic, but somehow, or other I 
contrived to announce it as my absolute will, and 
pleasure that these fellows should find me the means 
of gaining Suez. They acceded, and having a donkey, 
they saddled it for me, and appointed one of their 
number to attend me on foot. 



CAIRO TO SUEZ 



211 



I afterwards found that these fellows were not Arabs, 
but Algerine refugees, and that they bore the character 
of being sad scoundrels. They justified this imputa- 
tion to some extent on the following day. They allowed 
Mysseri with my baggage, and the camels to pass un- 
molested, but an Arab lad belonging to the party 
happened to lag a little way in the rear, and him (if 
they were not maligned) these rascals stripped, and 
robbed. Low indeed is the state of bandit morality, 
when men will allow the sleek traveller with well laden 
camels to pass in quiet, reserving their spirit of enter- 
prise for the tattered turban of a miserable boy. 

I reached Suez at last. The British Agent, though 
roused from his midnight sleep, received me in his 
home with the utmost kindness and hospitality. Oh ! 
by Jove, how delightful it was to lie on fair sheets, and 
to dally with sleep, and to wake, and to sleep, and to 
wake once more, for the sake of sleeping again ! 



CHAPTER XXII 



SUEZ 

I WAS hospitably entertained by the British Consul 
or Agent, as he is there styled ; he is the employe 
of the East India Company^ and not of the Home 
Government. Napoleon during his stay of five days 
at Suez, had been the guest of the Consul's father, and 
I was told that the divan in my apartment had been 
the bed of the great Commander. 

There are two opinions as to the point at which the 
Israelites passed the Red Sea ; one is that they tra- 
versed only the very small creek at the Northern 
extremity of the inlet, and that they entered the bed of 
the water at the spot on which Suez now stands, — the 
other that they crossed the sea from a point eighteen 
miles down the coast. The Oxford theologians who 
with Milman their Professor, 1 believe that Jehovah 
conducted his chosen people without disturbing the 
order of Nature, adopt the first view, and suppose that 
the Israelites passed during an ebb tide aided by a 
violent wind. One among many objections to this 
supposition is, that the time of a single ebb would not 
have been sufficient for the passage of that vast multi- 
tude of men and beasts, or even for a small fraction of 
it. Moreover the creek to the north of this point can 
be compassed in an hour, and in two hours you can 
make the circuit of the salt marsh over which the sea 
may have extended in former times ; if therefore the 

1 See Milman's "History of the Jews." ist Edit. Family 
Library. 



SUEZ 



213 



Israelites crossed so high up as Suez, the Egyptians, 
unless infatuated by divine interference, might easily 
have recovered their stolen goods from the encumbered 
fugitives, by making a slight detour. The opinion 
which fixes the point of passage at eighteen miles' 
distance, and from thence right across the Ocean depths 
to the Eastern side of the sea, is supported by the 
unanimous tradition of the people, whether Christians, 
or Mussulmans, and is consistent with Holy writ ; 
" the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, 
and on their left" The Cambridge Mathematicians 
seem to think that the Israelites were enabled to pass 
over dry land by adopting a route not usually subject 
to the influx of the Sea ; this notion is plausible in a 
merely hydrostatical point of view, and is supposed to 
have been adopted by most of the fellows of Trinity, 
but certainly not by Thorp, who is one of the most 
amiable of their number ; it is difficult to reconcile this 
theory with the account given in Exodus, unless we 
can suppose that the words " sea," and " waters " are 
there used in a sense implying dry land. 

Napoleon, when at Suez, made an attempt to follow 
the supposed steps of Moses by passing the creek at 
this point, but it seems, according to the testimony of 
the people at Suez, that he, and his horsemen managed 
the matter in a way more resembling the failure of the 
Egyptians, than the success of the Israelites. Accord- 
ing to the French account, Napoleon got out of the 
difficulty by that warrior-like presence of mind which 
served him so well when the fate of nations depended 
on the decision of a moment ; he ordered his horsemen 
to disperse in all directions, in order to multiply the 
chances of finding shallow water, and was thus enabled 
to discover a line by which he and his people were 
extricated. The story told by the people of Suez is 
very different ; they declare that Napoleon parted 
from his horse, got thoroughly submerged, and was 
only fished out by the assistance of the people on 
shore. 



214 



EOTHEN 



I bathed twice at the point assigned to the passage 
of the Israelites, and the second time that I did so, I 
chose the time of low water, and tried to walk across, 
but I soon found myself out of my depth, or at least in 
water so deep that I could only advance by swimming. 

The dromedary which had bolted in the Desert, was 
brought into Suez the day after my arrival, but my 
pelisse and my pistols, which had been attached to the 
saddle, had disappeared; these articles were treasures 
of great importance to me at that time, and I moved 
the Governor of the town to make all possible exertions 
for their recovery ; he acceded to my wishes as well 
as he could, and very obligingly imprisoned the first 
seven poor fellows he could lay his hands on. 

At first the Governor acted in the matter from no 
other motive than that of courtesy to an English 
traveller, but afterwards, and when he saw the value 
which I set upon the lost property, he pushed his 
measures with a degree of alacrity, and heat, which 
seemed to shew that he felt a personal interest in the 
matter ; it was supposed either that he expected a large 
present in the event of succeeding, or that he was 
striving by all means to trace the property in order 
that he might lay his hands on it after my departure. 

I went out sailing for some hours, and when I re- 
turned I was horrified to find that two men had been 
bastinadoed by order of the Governor, with a view to 
force them to a confession of their theft. It appeared, 
however, that there really was good ground for sup- 
posing them guilty, since one of the holsters was 
actually found in their possession. It was said, too, 
(but I could hardly believe it,) that whilst one of the 
men was undergoing the bastinado, his comrade was 
overheard encouraging him to bear the torment with- 
out peaching. Both men if they had the secret were 
resolute in keeping it, and were sent back to their 
dungeon. I, of course, took care that there should be 
no repetition of the torture, at least so long as I re- 
mained at Suez. 



SUEZ 



215 



The Governor was a thorough Oriental, and until a 
comparatively recent period had shared in the old 
Mahometan feeling of contempt for Europeans. It 
happened, however, one day that an English gun-brig 
had appeared off Suez, and sent her boats ashore to 
take in fresh water. Now fresh water at Suez is a some- 
what scarce, and precious commodity ; it is kept in tanks, 
the chief of which is at some distance from the place. 
Under these circumstances the request for fresh water 
was refused, or at all events was not complied with. 
The Captain of the brig was a simple minded man, 
with a strongish will, and he at once declared that if 
his casks were not filled in three hours, he would 
destroy the whole place. "A great people indeed !" 
said the Governor — "a wonderful people, the English !" 
He instantly caused every cask to be filled to the brim 
from his own tank, and ever afterwards entertained for 
the English a degree of affection, and respect for which 
I felt infinitely indebted to the gallant Captain. 

The day after the abortive attempt to extract a con- 
fession from the prisoners, the Governor, the Consul, 
and I sat in Council, I know not how long, with a view 
of prosecuting the search for the stolen goods. The 
sitting, considered in the light of a criminal investiga- 
tion, was characteristic of the East. The proceedings 
began as a matter of course by the Prosecutors 
smoking a pipe, and drinking coffee with the Governor 
who was Judge, Jury, and Sheriff. I got on very well 
with him, (this was not my first interview,) and he 
gave me the pipe from his lips in testimony of his 
friendship. I recollect, however, that my prime adviser, 
thinking me I suppose a great deal too shy, and retiring 
in my manner, entreated me to put up my boofs, and 
to soil the Governor's divan, in order to inspire respect, 
and strike terror. I thought it would be as well for me 
to retain the right of respecting myself, and that it was 
not quite necessary for a well received guest to strike 
any terror at all. 

Our deliberations were assisted by the numerous 



2l6 



EOTHEN 



attendants who lined the three sides of the room not 
occupied by the divan. Any one of these who took it 
into his head to offer a suggestion, would stand forward, 
and humble himself before the Governor, and then 
state his views which were always more or less at- 
tended to. 

After a great deal of fruitless planning, the Governor 
directed that the prisoners should be brought in. I 
was shocked when they entered, for I was not prepared 
to see them come carried into the room upon the 
shoulders of others. It had not occurred to me that 
their battered feet would be too sore to bear the contact 
of the floor. They persisted in asserting their innocence. 
The Governor wanted to recur to the torture, but that 
I prevented, and the men were carried back to their 
dungeon. 

A scheme was now suggested by one of the attendants 
which seemed to me childishly absurd, but it was 
nevertheless tried. The plan was to send a man to 
the prisoners who was to make them believe that he 
had obtained entrance into their dungeon upon some 
other pretence, but that he had in reality come to treat 
with them for the purchase of the stolen goods. This 
shallow expedient of course failed. 

The Governor himself had not nominally the power 
of life and death over the people in his district, but he 
could if he chose send them to Cairo, and have them 
hanged there. I proposed therefore that the prisoners 
should be threatened with this fate. The answer of the 
Governor made me feel rather ashamed of my effemi- 
nate suggestion ; he said that if I wished it he would 
willingly threaten them with death, but he also said 
that if he threatened, he should execute the threat. 

Thinking at last that nothing was to be gained by 
keeping the prisoners any longer in confinement, I 
requested that they might be set free. To this the 
Governor acceded, though only, as he said, out of 
favour to me, for he had a strong impression that the 
men were guilty. I went down to see the prisoners 



SUEZ 



217 



let out with my own eyes. They were very grateful, 
and fell down to the earth, kissing my boots. I gave 
them a present to console them for their wounds, and 
they seemed to be highly delighted. 

Although the matter terminated in a manner so 
satisfactory to the principal sufferers, there were 
symptoms of some angry excitement in the place ; it 
was said that public opinion was much shocked at the 
fact that Mahometans had been beaten on account of 
a loss sustained by a Christian. My journey was to 
recommence the next day, and it was hinted that if I 
persevered in my intention of proceeding, the people 
would have an easy and profitable opportunity of wreak- 
ing their vengeance on me. If ever they formed any 
scheme of the kind, they at all events refrained from 
any attempt to carry it into effect. 

One of the evenings during my stay at Suez was 
enlivened by a triple wedding. There was a long, and 
slow procession. Some carried torches, and others 
were thumping drums, and firing pistols. The bride- 
grooms came last, all walking abreast ; my only reason 
for mentioning the ceremony (which was otherwise un- 
interesting) is that I scarcely ever in all my life saw 
any phenomena so ridiculous, as the meekness, and 
gravity of those three young men, whilst being " led to 
the altar." 



CHAPTER XXIII 



SUEZ TO GAZA 

THE route over the Desert from Suez to Gaza is 
not frequented by merchants, and is seldom passed 
by a traveller. This part of the country is less uni- 
formly barren than the tracts of shifting sand which 
lie on the El Arish route. The shrubs on which the 
camel feeds are more frequent, and there are many 
spots on which the sand is mingled with so much of 
productive soil as to admit the growth of corn. The 
Bedouins are driven out of this district during the 
summer by the total want of water, but before the time 
for their forced departure arrives,' they succeed in rais- 
ing little crops of barley from these comparatively 
fertile patches of ground ; they bury the fruit of their 
labours, leaving marks by which, upon their return, 
they may be able to recognize the spot. The warm 
dry sand stands them for a safe granary. The country, 
at the time I passed it, (in the month of April) was 
pretty thickly sprinkled with Bedouins expecting their 
harvest ; several times my tent was pitched alongside 
of their encampments ; I have told you already what 
the impressions were which these people produced 
upon my mind. 

I saw several creatures of the antelope kind in this 
part of the Desert, and one day, my Arabs surprised 
in her sleep, a young gazelle, (for so I called her), and 
took the darling prisoner. I carried her before me on 
my camel for the rest of the day, and kept her in my 
tent all night ; I did all I could to coax her, but the 



SUEZ TO GAZA 



219 



trembling beauty refused to touch food, and would not 
be comforted ; whenever she had a seeming opportunity 
of escaping, she struggled with a violence so painfully 
disproportioned to her fine, delicate limbs, that I could 
not continue the cruel attempt to make her my own. 
In the morning, therefore, I set her free, anticipating 
some pleasure from seeing the joyous bound with 
which, as I thought, she would return to her native 
freedom. She had been so stupified, however, by the 
exciting events of the preceding day, and night, and 
was so puzzled as to the road she should take, that she 
went off very deliberately, and with an uncertain step. 
She went away quite sound in limb, but her intellect, 
may have been upset. Never, in all likelihood, had 
she seen the form of a human being, until the dreadful 
moment when she woke from her sleep, and found her- 
self in the gripe of an Arab. Then her pitching and 
tossing journey on, the back of a camel, and lastly, a 
soiree with me by candlelight ! I should have been 
glad to know, if I could, that her heart was not utterly 
broken. 

My Arabs were somewhat excited one day by dis- 
covering the fresh print of a foot— the foot, as they 
said, of a lion. I had no conception that the Lord of 
the forest (better known as a crest) ever stalked away 
from his jungles to make inglorious war in these 
smooth plains against antelopes, and gazelles. I sup- 
posed that there must have been some error of inter- 
pretation, and that the Arabs meant to speak of a tiger. 
It appeared, however, that this was not the case ; 
either the Arabs were mistaken, or the noble brute un- 
cooped, and unchained, had but lately crossed my path. 

The camels, with which I traversed this part of the 
Desert, were very different in their ways and habits 
from those which you get on a frequented route. They 
were never led. There was not the slightest sign of a 
track in this part of the Desert, but the camels never 
failed to choose the right line. By the direction taken 
at starting, they knew, I suppose, the point (some en- 



220 



EOTHEN 



campment) for which they were to make. There is 
always a leading camel, (generally, I believe, the eldest) 
who marches foremost, and determines the path for the 
whole party. If it happens that no one of the camels 
has been accustomed to lead the others, there is very 
great difficulty in making a start ; if you force your 
beast forward for a moment, he will contrive to wheel, 
and draw back, at the same time looking at one of the 
other camels with an expression, and gesture, exactly 
equivalent to " apres vous." The responsibility of 
finding the way is evidently assumed very unwillingly. 
After some time, however, it becomes understood that 
one of the beasts has reluctantly consented to take the 
lead, and he accordingly advances for that purpose. 
For a minute, or two he goes on with much indecision, 
taking first one line, and then another, but soon, by the 
aid of some mysterious sense, he discovers the true 
direction, and follows it steadily from morning to night. 
When once the leadership is established, you cannot 
by any persuasion, and can scarcely by any force in- 
duce a junior camel to walk one single step in advance 
of the chosen guide. I 

On the fifth day I came to an Oasis, called the 
Wady el Arish, a ravine, or rather a gully, through 
which, during a part of the year, there runs a stream 
of water. On the sides of the gully there were a num- 
ber of those graceful trees which the Arabs call Tarfa. 
The channel of the stream was quite dry in the part at 
which we arrived, but at about half a mile off some 
water was found, which, though very muddy, was 
tolerably sweet. This was a happy discovery, for the 
water which we had brought from the neighbourhood 
of Suez was rapidly putrifying. 

The want of foresight is an anomalous part of the 
Bedouin's character, for it does not result either from 
recklessness, or stupidity. I know of no human being 
whose body is so thoroughly the slave of mind as that 
of the Arab. His mental anxieties seem to be for ever 
torturing every nerve, and fibre of his body, and yet 



SUEZ TO GAZA 



221 



with all this exquisite sensitiveness to the suggestions 
of the mind, he is grossly improvident. I recollect, 
for instance, that when setting out upon this passage 
of the Desert, my Arabs, in order to lighten the burthen 
of their camels, were most anxious that we should take 
with us only two days ; supply of water. They said that 
by the time that supply was exhausted, we should 
arrive at a spring which would furnish us for the rest 
of the journey. My servants very wisely, and with 
much pertinacity, resisted the adoption of this plan, 
and took care to have both the large skins well filled. 
We proceeded, and found no water at all, either at the 
expected spring, or for many days afterwards, so that 
nothing but the precaution of my own people saved us 
from the very severe suffering which we should have 
endured, if we had entered upon the Desert with only 
a two days' supply. The Arabs themselves being on 
foot would have suffered much more than I, from the 
consequences of their improvidence. 

This unaccountable want of foresight prevents the 
Bedouin from appreciating at a distance of eight or ten 
days the amount of the misery which he entails upon 
himself at the end of that period. The Bedouin's 
dread of a city is one of the most painful mental affec- 
tions that I have ever observed, and yet when the 
whole breadth of the Desert lies between him, and the 
town to which you are going, he will freely enter into 
an agreement to land you in the city for which you are 
bound. When, however, after many a day of toil, the 
distant minarets at length appear, the poor Bedouin 
relaxes the vigour of his pace — his step becomes falter- 
ing, and undecided — every moment his uneasiness 
increases, and at length he fairly sobs aloud, and em- 
bracing your knees, implores, with the most piteous 
cries, and gestures, that you will dispense with him, 
and his camels, and find some other means of entering 
the city. This, of course, one can't agree to, and the 
consequence is, that one is obliged to witness, and 
resist the most moving expressions of grief, and fond 



222 



EOTHEN 



entreaty. I had to go through a most painful scene of 
this kind when I entered Cairo, and now the horror 
which these wilder Arabs felt at the notion of entering 
Gaza led to consequences still more distressing. The 
dread of cities results partly from a kind of wild instinct 
which has always characterized the descendants of 
Ishmael, but partly, too, from a well founded apprehen- 
sion of ill treatment. So often it happens, that the 
poor Bedouin, when once jammed in between walls, is 
seized by the Government authorities for the sake of 
his camels, that his innate horror of cities becomes 
really well justified by results. 

The Bedouins with whom I performed this journey 
were wild fellows of the Desert, quite unaccustomed to 
let out themselves, or their beasts for hire, and when 
they found that by the natural ascendancy of Euro- 
peans they were gradually brought down to a state of 
subserviency to me, or rather to my attendants, they 
bitterly repented, I believe, of having placed themselves 
under our controul. They were rather difficult fellows 
to manage, and gave Dthemetri a good deal of trouble, 
but I liked them all the better for that. 

Selim, the chief of the party, and the man to whom 
all our camels belonged, was a fine, wild, stately fellow ; 
there were, I think, five other Arabs of the party, but 
when we approached the end of the journey, they one 
by one, began to make off towards the neighbouring 
encampments, and by the time that the minarets of 
Gaza were in sight, Selim, the owner of the camels, 
was the only one who remained ; he, poor fellow, as we 
neared the Town, began to discover the same terrors 
that my Arabs had shewn when I entered Cairo. I 
could not possibly accede to his entreaties, and consent 
to let my baggage be laid down on the bare sands, 
without any means of having it brought on into the 
city. So at length when poor Selim had exhausted all 
his rhetoric of voice, and action, and tears, he fixed his 
despairing eyes for a minute upon the cherished beasts 
that were his only wealth, and then wildly, and sud- 



SUEZ TO GAZA 



223 



denly dashed away into the farther Desert. I con- 
tinued my course, and reached the city at last, but it 
was not without immense difficulty that we could con- 
strain the poor camels to pass under the hated shadow 
of its walls. They were the genuine beasts of the 
Desert, and it was sad, and painful to witness the 
agony which they suffered when thus they were forced 
to encounter the fixed habitations of men ; they shrank 
from the beginning of every high, narrow street as 
though from the entrance of some horrible cave, or 
bottomless pit ; they sighed, and wept like women. 
When at last we got them within the court yard of the 
Khan, they seemed to be quite broken-hearted, and 
looked round piteously for their loving master, but no 
Selim came. I had imagined that he would enter the 
town secretly, by night, in order to cany off those five 
fine camels, his only wealth in this world, and seem- 
ingly the main objects of his affection. But no — his 
dread of civilization was too strong ; during the whole 
of the three days that I remained at Gaza, he failed to 
shew himself, and thus sacrificed in all probability, 
not only his camels, but the money which I had stipu- 
lated to pay him for the passage of the Desert. In 
order, however, to do all I could towards saving him 
from this last misfortune, I resorted to a contrivance 
which is frequently adopted by the Asiatics. I assem- 
bled a group of grave, and worthy Mussulmans in the 
court yard of the Khan, and in their presence paid over 
the gold to a Sheik who was accustomed to communi- 
cate with the Arabs of the Desert All present solemnly 
promised, that if ever Selim should come to claim his 
rights, they would bear true witness in his favour. 

I saw a great deal of my old friend the Governor of 
Gaza. He had received orders to send back all persons 
coming from Egypt, and force them to perform quaran- 
tine at El Arish ; he knew so little of quarantine 
regulations, however, that his dress was actually in 
contact with mine, whilst he insisted upon the stringency 
of the orders which he had received. He was induced 



224 



EOTHEN 



to make an exception in my favour, and I rewarded 
him with a musical snuff-box which I had bought at 
Smyrna, for the purpose of presenting it to any man in 
authority who might happen to do me an important 
service. The Governor was immensely delighted with 
this toy, and took it off to his harem with great exulta- 
tion ; he soon, however, returned with an altered 
countenance ; his wives, he said, had got hold of the 
box, and put it out of order. So short-lived is human 
happiness in this frail world ! 

The Governor fancied that he should incur less risk, 
if I remained at Gaza for two, or three days more, and 
he wanted me to become his guest ; I persuaded him, 
however, that it would be better for him to let me de- 
part at once ; he wanted to add to my baggage a roast 
lamb, and a quantity of other cumbrous viands, but I 
escaped with half a horse load of leaven bread, which 
was very good of its kind, and proved a most useful 
present. The air with which the Governor's slaves 
affected to be almost breaking down under the weight 
of the gifts which they bore on their shoulders, re- 
minded me of the figures one sees in some of the old 
pictures. 



CHAPTER XXIV 



GAZA TO NABLOUS 



PASSING now once again through Palestine and 
Syria, I retained the tent which I had used in the 
Desert, and found that it added very much to my 
comfort in travelling. Instead of turning out a family 
from some wretched dwelling, and depriving them of a 
repose which I was sure not to find for myself, I now, 
when evening came, pitched my tent upon some smiling 
spot within a few hundred yards of the village to which 
I looked for my supplies — that is, for milk, and bread, 
if I had it not with me, and sometimes also for eggs. 
The worst of it is that the needful viands are not to be 
obtained by coin, but only by intimidation. I at first 
tried the usual agent — money ; Dthemetri, with one or 
two of my Arabs, went into the village near which I 



was encamped, and tried to buy the required provisions, 
offering liberal payment, but he came back empty- 
handed. I sent him again, but this time he held 
different language ; he required to see the elders of 
the place, and threatening dreadful vengeance, directed 
them upon their responsibility to take care that my 
tent should be immediately, and abundantly supplied. 
He was obeyed at once, and the provisions which had 
been refused to me as a purchaser soon arrived, trebled, 
or quadrupled, when demanded by way of a forced con- 
tribution. I quickly found (I think it required two 
experiments to convince me) that this peremptory 
method was the only one which could be adopted with 
success it never failed. Of course, however, when 



Q 



226 



EOTHEN 



the provisions have been actually obtained, you can, if 
you choose, give money exceeding the value of the 
provisions to somebody; an English — a thoroughbred 
English traveller will always do this, (though it is 
contrary to the custom of the country) for the quiet 
(false quiet though it be) of his own conscience, but so 
to order the matter, that the poor fellows who have 
been forced to contribute, should be the persons to 
receive the value of their supplies, is not possible ; for 
a traveller to attempt anything so grossly just as that, 
would be too outrageous. The truth is, that the usage 
of the East in old times, required the people of the 
village, at their own cost, to supply the wants of tra- 
vellers, and the ancient custom is now adhered to, not 
in favour of travellers generally, but in favour of those 
who are deemed sufficiently powerful to enforce its 
observance ; if the villagers, therefore, find a man 
waiving this right to oppress them, and offering coin 
for that which he is entitled to take without payment, 
they suppose at once that he is actuated by fear, (fear 
of them) poor fellows !) and it is so delightful to them 
to act upon this flattering assumption, that they will 
forego the advantage of a good price for their provisions, 
rather than the rare luxury of refusing for once in their 
lives to part with their own property. 

The practice of intimidation, thus rendered necessary, 
is utterly hateful to an Englishman ; he finds himself 
forced to conquer his daily bread by the pompous 
threats of the Dragoman, his very subsistence, as well 
as his dignity, and personal safety being made to 
depend upon his servant's assuming a tone of authority 
which does not at all belong to him. Besides, he can 
scarcely fail to see that as he passes through the country, 
he becomes the innocent cause of much extra injustice 
— many supernumerary wrongs. This he feels to be 
especially the case when he travels with relays. To 
be the owner of a horse, or a mule within reach of an 
Asiatic potentate, is to lead the life of the hare, and 
the rabbit — hunted down, and ferreted out. Too often 



GAZA TO NABLOUS 227 



it happens that the works of the field are stopped in 
the day time, that the inmates of the cottage are roused 
from their midnight sleep by the sudden coming of a 
Government officer, and the poor husbandman driven 
by threats, and rewarded by curses, if he would not 
lose sight for ever of his captured beasts, must quit all, 
and follow them ; this is done that the Englishman 
may travel ; he would make his way more harmlessly 
if he could, but horses, or mules he must have, and 
these are his ways and means. 

The town of Nablous is beautiful ; it lies in a valley 
hemmed in with olive groves, and its buildings are 
interspersed with frequent palm trees. It is said to 
occupy the site of the ancient Sychem. I know not 
whether it was there, indeed, that the father of the 
Jews was accustomed to feed his flocks, but the valley 
is green, and smiling, and is held at this day by a 
race more brave, and beautiful than Jacob's unhappy 
descendants. 

Nablous is the very furnace of Mahometan bigotry, 
and I believe that only a few months before the time 
of my going there, it would have been quite unsafe for 
a man, unless strongly guarded, to shew himself to the 
people of the town in a Frank costume ; but since their 
last insurrection, the Mahometans of the place had 
been so far subdued by the severity of Ibrahim Pasha, 
that they dared not now offer the slightest insult to an 
European. It was quite plain, however, that the effort 
with which the men of the old school refrained from 
expressing their opinion of a hat, and a coat, was 
horribly painful to them ; as I walked through the 
streets, and bazaars, a dead silence prevailed ; every 
man suspended his employment, and gazed on me with 
a fixed, glassy look which seemed to say, " God is 
good, but how marvellous, and inscrutable are his 
ways that thus he permits this white-faced dog of a 
Christian to hunt through the paths of the faithful." 

The insurrection of these people had been more 
formidable than any other that Ibrahim Pasha had to 



228 



EOTHEN 



contend with ; he was only able to crush them at last 
by the assistance of a fellow renowned for his resources 
in the way of stratagem, and cunning as well as for his 
knowledge of the country. This personage was no 
other than Aboo Goosh, ("the father of lies") 1 who 
was taken out of prison for the purpose. The " father 
of lies" enabled Ibrahim to hem in the insurrection, 
and extinguish it ; he was rewarded with the Governor- 
ship of Jerusalem, which he held when I was there ; I 
recollect, by the bye, that he tried one of his stratagems 
upon me. I did not go to see him as I ought in courtesy 
to have done, during my stay at Jerusalem, but I 
happened to be the owner of a rather handsome amber 
tchibouque piece which the Governor heard of, and by 
some means contrived to see ; he sent to me, and 
dressed up a statement that he would give me a price 
immensely exceeding the sum which I had given for 
it. He did not add my tchibouque to the rest of his 
trophies. 

There was a small number of Greek Christians 
resident in Nablous, and over these the Mussulmans 
held a high hand, not even permitting them to speak 
to each other in the open streets ; but if the Moslems 
thus set themselves above the poor Christians of the 
place, I, or rather my servants soon took the ascendant 
over them. I recollect that just as we were starting 
from the place, and at a time when a number of people 
had gathered together in the main street to see our 
preparations, Mysseri, being provoked at some piece 
of perverseness on the part of a true Believer, coolly 
thrashed him with his horsewhip before the assembled 
crowd of fanatics. I was much annoyed at the time, 
for I thought that the people would probably rise 
against us. They turned rather pale, but stood still. 

1 This is an appellation, not implying blame, but merit ; the 
"lies" which it purports to affiliate are feints, and cunning 
stratagems rather than the baser kind of falsehoods. The ex- 
pression in short has nearly the same meaning as the English 
word ' ' Yorkshireman. " 



GAZA TO NABLOUS 



229 



The day of my arriving at Nablous was a fete — the 
new year's day of the Mussulmans. 1 Most of the people 
were amusing themselves in the beautiful lawns, and 
shady groves without the city. The men (except my- 
self) were all remotely apart from the other sex. The 
women in groups were diverting themselves, and their 
children with swings. They were so handsome, that 
they could not keep up their yashmaks ; I believe that 
they had never before looked upon a man in the 
European dress, and when they now saw in me that 
strange phenomenon, and saw, too, how they could 
please the creature by shewing him a glimpse of beauty, 
they seemed to think it was better fun to do this, than 
to go on playing with swings. It was always, however, 
with a sort of Zoological expression of countenance 
that they looked on the horrible monster from Europe, 
and whenever one of them gave me to see for one 
sweet instant, the blushing of her unveiled face, it was 
with the same kind of air as that with which a young, 
timid girl will edge her way up to an elephant, and 
tremblingly give him a nut from the tips of her rosy 
ringers. 

1 The 29th of April. 



CHAPTER XXV 



MARIAM 

THERE is no spirit of Propagandism in the Mus- 
sulmans of the Ottoman dominions. True it is 
that a prisoner of War, or a Christian condemned to 
death, may on some occasions save his life by adopting 
the religion of Mahomet, but instances of this kind are 
now exceedingly rare, and are quite at variance with 
the general system. Many Europeans, I think, would 
be surprised to learn that which is nevertheless quite 
true, namely that an attempt to disturb the religious 
repose of the Empire, by the conversion of a Christian 
to the Mahometan faith is positively illegal ; an in- 
cident which occurred at Nablous, and which I am 
going to mention, shewed plainly enough that the un- 
lawfulness of such interference is recognized even in 
the most bigoted stronghold of Islam. 

During my stay at this place I took up my quarters 
at the house of the Greek "Papa," as he is called, 
that is, the Greek Priest ; the priest himself had gone 
to Jerusalem upon the business I am going to tell you 
of, but his wife remained at Nablous, and did the 
honours of her home. 

Soon after my arrival, a deputation from the Greek 
Christians of the place came to request my interference 
in a matter which had occasioned vast excitement. 

And now I must tell you how it came to happen, as 
it did continually, that people thought it worth while 
to claim the assistance of a mere traveller who was 
totally devoid of all just pretensions to authority, or 



MARIAM 



231 



influence of even the humblest description, and especi- 
ally I must explain to you how it was that the power 
thus attributed, did really belong to me, or rather to 
my Dragoman. Successive political convulsions had 
at length fairly loosed the people of Syria from their 
former rules of conduct, and from all their old habits 
of reliance. The violence, and success with which 
Mehemet Ali crushed the insurrections of the Maho- 
metan population, had utterly beaten down the head of 
Islam, and extinguished for the time at least, those 
virtues, and vices which had sprung from the Ma- 
hometan Faith. Success so complete as Mehemet 
Ali's, if it had been attained by an ordinary Asiatic 
potentate, would have induced a notion of stability. 
The readily bowing mind of the Oriental would have 
bowed low, and long under the feet of a conqueror 
whom God had thus strengthened. But Syria was 
no field for contests strictly Asiatic — Europe was in- 
volved, and though the heavy masses of Egyptian 
troops clinging down with strong gripe upon the land, 
might seem to hold it fast, yet every peasant practically 
felt, and knew that in Vienna, or Petersburg, or Lon- 
don, there were four or five pale looking men who 
could pull down the star of the Pasha with shreds of 
paper, and ink. The people of the country knew, too, 
that Mehemet Ali was strong with the strength of the 
Europeans, — strong by his French General, his French 
tactics, and his English engines. Moreover, they saw 
that the person, the property, and even the dignity of 
the humblest European was guarded with the most 
careful solicitude. The consequence of all this was, 
that the people of Syria looked vaguely, but confidently 
to Europe for fresh changes ; many would fix upon 
some nation, France, or England, and steadfastly 
regard it as the arriving sovereign of Syria ; those 
whose minds remained in doubt, equally contributed 
to this new state of public opinion, which no longer 
depended upon Religion, and ancient habits, but upon 
bare hopes, and fears. Every man wanted to know, — 



232 



EOTHEN 



not who was his neighbour, but who was to be his 
ruler ; whose feet he was to kiss, and by whom his 
feet were to be ultimately beaten. Treat your friend, 
says the proverb, as though he were one day to become 
your enemy, and your enemy as though he were one 
day to become your friend. 1 The Syrians went further, 
and seemed inclined to treat every stranger as though 
he might one day become their Pasha. Such was the 
state of circumstances, and of feeling which now for 
the first time had thoroughly opened the mind of 
Western Asia for the reception of Europeans and 
European ideas. The credit of the English especially 
was so great, that a good Mussulman flying from the 
conscription, or any other persecution, would come to 
seek from the formerly despised hat, that protection 
which the turban could no longer afford, and a man high 
in authority, (as for instance the Governor in command 
of Gaza,) would think that he had won a prize, or at all 
events a valuable lottery ticket, if he obtained a written 
approval of his conduct from a simple traveller. 

Still, in order that any immediate result should 
follow from all this unwonted readiness in the Asiatic 
to succumb to the European, it was necessary that 
some one should be at hand, who could see, and would 
push the advantage ; I myself had neither the inclina- 
tion, nor the power to do so, but it happened that 
Dthemetri, who as my Dragoman represented me on 
all occasions, was the very person of all others best 
fitted to avail himself with success of this yielding 
tendency in the Oriental mind. If the chance of birth 
and fortune had made poor Dthemetri a tailor during 
some part of his life, yet Religion, and the literature of 
the Church which he served, had made him a Man, 
and a brave Man too. The lives of Saints with which 
he was familiar, were full of heroic actions, which in- 
vited imitation, and since faith in a creed involves 
a faith in its ultimate triumph, Dthemetri was bold 



1 Soph. " Ajax," 677. 



MARIAM 



233 



from a sense of true strength ; his education too, 
though not very general in its character, had been 
carried quite far enough to justify him in pluming 
himself upon a very decided advantage over the great 
bulk of the Mahometan population, including the men 
in authority. With all this consciousness of religious, 
and intellectual superiority Dthemetri had lived for 
the most part in countries lying under Mussulman 
Governments, and had witnessed, (perhaps too had 
suffered from) their revolting cruelties ; the result was 
that he abhorred, and despised the Mahometan faith, 
and all who clung to it. And this hate was not of the 
dry, dull, and inactive sort ; Dthemetri was in his 
sphere a true Crusader, and whenever there appeared 
a fair opening in the defences of Islam, he was ready, 
and eager to make the assault. These sentiments, 
backed by a consciousness of understanding the people 
with whom he had to do, made Dthemetri not only 
firm and resolute in his constant interviews with men 
in authority, but sometimes also (as you may know 
already,) very violent, and even insulting. This tone, 
which I always disliked, though I was fain to profit by 
it, invariably succeeded ; it swept away all resistance ; 
there was nothing in the then depressed, and succumb- 
ing mind of the Mussulman that could oppose a zeal so 
warm, and fierce. 

As for me, I of course stood aloof from Dthemetri's 
crusades, and did not even render him any active 
assistance when he was striving, (as he almost always 
was, poor fellow) on my behalf ; I was only the death's 
head, and white sheet with which he scared the enemy; 
I think, however, that I played this spectral part 
exceedingly well, for I seldom appeared at all in any 
discussion, and whenever I did, I was sure to be pale, 
and calm. 

The event which induced the Christians of Nablous 
to seek for my assistance was this. A beautiful young 
Christian, between fifteen and sixteen years old, had 
lately been married to a man of her own creed. About 



234 



EOTHEN 



the same time, (probably on the occasion of her 
wedding) she was accidentally seen by a Mussulman 
Sheik of great wealth, and local influence, who in- 
stantly became madly enamoured of her. The strict 
morality, which so generally prevails where the Mus- 
sulmans have complete ascendancy, prevented the 
Sheik from entertaining any such sinful hopes as an 
European might have ventured to cherish under the 
like circumstances, and he saw no chance of gratifying 
his love, except by inducing the girl to embrace his 
own creed : if he could induce her to take this step, 
her marriage with the Christian would be dissolved, 
and then there would be nothing to prevent him from 
making her the last, and brightest of his wives. The 
Sheik was a practical man, and quickly began his 
attack upon the theological opinions of the bride ; he 
did not assail her with the eloquence of any Imaums, 
or Mussulman Saints — he did not press upon her the 
eternal truths of the " Cow," 1 or the beautiful morality 
of "the Table," — he sent her no tracts — not even a 
copy of the holy Koran. An old woman acted as 
missionary. She brought with her a whole basket full 
of arguments — jewels, and shawls, and scarfs, and all 
kinds of persuasive finery. Poor Mariam ! she put on 
the jewels, and took a calm view of the Mahometan 
Religion in a little hand mirror — she could not be deaf 
to such eloquent ear-rings, and the great truths of 
Islam came home to her young bosom in the delicate 
folds of the Cashmere ; she was ready to abandon her 
faith. 

The Sheik knew very well that his attempt to con- 
vert an infidel was illegal, and that his proceedings 
would not bear investigation, so he took care to pay a 
large sum to the Governor of Nablous in order to 
obtain his connivance. 

At length Mariam quitted her home, and placed 

1 These are the names given by the Prophet to certain chap- 
ters of the Koran. 



MARIAM 



235 



herself under the protection of the Mahometan au- 
thorities, who, however, refrained from delivering her 
into the arms of her lover, and detained her in a 
mosque until the fact of her real conversion (which 
had been indignantly denied by her relatives) should 
be established. For two or three days the mother of 
the young convert was prevented from communicating 
with her child by various evasive contrivances, but not, 
it would seem, by a flat refusal. At length it was an- 
nounced that the young lady's profession of faith might 
be heard from her own lips. At an hour appointed, 
the friends of the Sheik, and the relatives of the damsel 
met in the mosque. The young convert addressed her 
mother in a loud voice, and said, " God is God, and 
Mahomet is the Prophet of God, and thou oh ! my 
mother, art an infidel feminine dog ! 55 

You would suppose that this declaration, so clearly 
enounced, and that, too, in a place where Mahometan- 
ism is, perhaps, more supreme than in any other part 
of the Empire, would have sufficed to confirm the pre- 
tensions of the lover. This, however, was not the case. 
The Greek Priest of the place was despatched on a 
mission to the Governor of Jerusalem, (Aboo Goosh) in 
order to complain against the proceedings of the Sheik, 
and obtain a restitution of the bride. Meanwhile the 
Mahometan authorities at Nablous were so conscious 
of having acted unlawfully, in conspiring to disturb the 
faith of the beautiful infidel, that they hesitated to take 
any further step, and the girl was still detained in the 
mosque. 

Thus matters stood when the Christians of the place 
came and sought to obtain my assistance. 

I felt (with regret) that I had no personal interest in 
the matter, and I also thought that there was no pre- 
tence for my interfering with the conflicting claims of 
the Christian husband, and the Mahometan lover, and 
I, therefore, declined to take any step. 

My speaking of the husband, by the by, reminds me 
that he was extremely backward about the great work 



236 



EOTHEN 



of recovering his youthful bride. The relations of the 
girl, who felt themselves disgraced by her conduct, 
were vehement, and excited to a high pitch, but the 
Menelaus of Nablous was exceedingly calm, and 
composed. 

The fact, that it was not technically my duty to in- 
terfere in a matter of this kind, was a very sufficient, 
and yet a very unsatisfactory reason for my refusal of 
all assistance. Until you are placed in situations of 
this kind, you can hardly tell how painful it is to refrain 
from intermeddling in other people's affairs — to refrain 
from intermeddling when you feel that you can do so 
with happy effect, and can remove a load of distress by 
the use of a few small phrases. Upon this occasion, 
however, an expression fell from one of the girPs kins- 
men, which not only determined me against all interfer- 
ence, but made me hope that all attempts to recover 
the proselyte would fail ; this person, speaking with 
the most savage bitterness, and with the cordial 
approval of all the other relatives, said that the girl 
ought to be beaten to death. I could not fail to see 
that if the poor child were ever restored to her family, 
she would be treated with the most frightful barbarity ; 
I heartily wished, therefore, that the Mussulmans 
might be firm, and preserve their young prize from any 
fate so dreadful as that of a return to her own relations. 

The next day the Greek Priest returned from his 
mission to Aboo Goosh, but the "father of lies," it 
would seem, had been well plied with the gold of the 
enamoured Sheik, and contrived to put off the prayers 
of the Christians by cunning feints. Now, therefore, 
a second, and more numerous deputation than the first 
waited upon me, and implored my intervention with 
the Governor. I informed the assembled Christians 
that since their last application I had carefully con- 
sidered the matter. The religious question I thought 
might be put aside at once, for the excessive levity 
which the girl had displayed proved clearly that, in 
adopting Mahometanism, she was not quitting any 



MARIAM 



237 



other religion ; her mind must have been thoroughly 
blank upon religious questions, and she was not, there- 
fore, to be treated as a Christian that had strayed from 
the flock, but rather as a child without any religion at 
all, who was willing to conform to the usages of those 
who would deck her with jewels, and clothe her with 
cashmere shawls. 

So much for the religious part of the question. Well, 
then, in a merely temporal sense, it appeared to me 
that (looking merely to the interests of the damsel, for 
I rather unjustly put poor Menelaus quite out of the 
question,) the advantages were all on the side of the 
Mahometan match. The Sheik was in a much higher 
station of life than the superseded husband, and had 
given the best possible proof of his ardent affection, by 
the sacrifices which he had made, and the risks which 
he had incurred for the sake of the beloved object. I, 
therefore, stated fairly, to the horror and amazement 
of all my hearers, that the Sheik, in my view, was 
likely to make a most capital husband, and that I 
entirely " approved of the match." 

I left Nablous under the impression that Mariam 
would soon be delivered to her Mussulman lover ; I 
afterwards found, however, that the result was very 
different. Dthemetri's religious zeal, and hate had 
been so much excited by the account of these events, 
and by the grief and mortification of his co-religionists, 
that when he found me firmly determined to decline all 
interference in the matter, he secretly appealed to the 
Governor in my name, and (using, I suppose, many 
violent threats, and, telling, no doubt, many lies about 
my station, and influence,) extorted a promise that the 
proselyte should be restored to her relatives. I did 
not understand that the girl had been actually given 
up whilst I remained at Nablous, but Dthemetri cer- 
tainly did not desist from his instances until he had 
satisfied himself by some means or other (for mere 
words amounted to nothing) that the promise would 
be actually performed. It was not till I had quitted 



238 



EOTHEN 



Syria, and when Dthemetri was no longer in my service, 
that this villanous, though well-motived trick of his 
came to my knowledge ; Mysseri, who informed me of 
the step which had been taken, did not know it himself 
until some time after we had quitted Nablous, when 
Dthemetri exultingly confessed his successful enter- 
prise. I know not whether the engagement which my 
zealous Dragoman extorted from the Governor was 
ever complied with. I shudder to think of the fate 
which must have befallen poor Mariam, if she fell into 
the hands of her husband. 



CHAPTER XXVI 



THE PROPHET DAMOOR 

FOR some hours I passed along the shores of the 
fair Lake of Galilee, and then turning a little to 
the westward, I struck into a mountainous country, the 
character of which became more beautiful as I advanced. 
At length I drew near to Safet, which sits as proud as 
a fortress upon the summit of a craggy height, and yet 
because of its minarets, and stately trees, the place 
looks bright, and beautiful. It is one of the holy cities 
of the Talmud, and according to this authority, the 
Messiah will reign there forty years before he takes 
possession of Sion. The sanctity thus attributed to 
the city renders it a favourite place of retirement for 
Israelites, of whom it contains four thousand, a number 
nearly balancing that of the Mahometan inhabitants. 
I knew by my experience of Tabarieh that a " holy 
city " was sure to have a population of vermin some- 
what proportionate to the number of its Israelites, and 
I therefore caused my tent to be pitched upon a green 
spot of ground at a respectful distance from the walls 
of the town. 

When it had become quite dark (for there was no 
moon that night,) I was informed that several Jews had 
secretly come from the city, in the hope of obtaining 
some assistance from me in circumstances of imminent 
danger ; I was also informed that they claimed my aid 
upon the ground that some of their number were 
British subjects. It was arranged that the two prin- 
cipal men of the party should speak for the rest, and 



240 



EOTHEN 



these were accordingly admitted into my tent. One 
of the two called himself the British Vice-Consul, and 
he had with him his consular cap, but he frankly said 
that he could not have dared to assume this emblem 
of his dignity in the day time, and that nothing but the 
extreme darkness of the night rendered it safe for him 
to put it on upon this occasion. The other of the 
spokesmen was a Jew of Gibraltar, a tolerably well- 
bred person, who spoke English very fluently. 

These men informed me that the Jews of the place, 
who were exceedingly wealthy, had lived peaceably in 
their retirement until the insurrection which took place 
in 1834, but about the beginning of that year a highly 
religious Mussulman, called Mohammed Damoor, went 
forth into the market-place, crying with a loud voice, 
and prophesying, that on the fifteenth of the following 
June the true Believers would rise up in just wrath 
against the Jews, and despoil them of their gold, and 
their silver, and their jewels. The earnestness of the 
prophet produced some impression at the time, but all 
went on as usual, until at last the fifteenth of June 
arrived. When that day dawned, the whole Mussul- 
man population of the place assembled in the streets, 
that they might see the result of the prophecy. 
Suddenly Mohammed Damoor rushed furious into the 
crowd, and the fierce shout of the prophet soon ensured 
the fulfilment of his prophecy. Some of the Jews fled, 
and some remained, but they who fled, and they who 
remained, alike and unresistingly left their property to 
the hands of the spoilers. The most odious of all 
outrages, that of searching the women for the base 
purpose of discovering such things as gold, and silver 
concealed about their persons, was perpetrated without 
shame. The poor Jews were so stricken with terror, 
that they submitted to their fate, even where resistance 
would have been easy. In several instances a young 
Mussulman boy, not more than ten or twelve years of 
age, walked straight into the house of a Jew, and 
stripped him of his property before his face, and in the 



THE PROPHET DAMOOR 241 



presence of his whole family. 1 When the insurrection 
was put down, some of the Mussulmans (most probably 
those who had got no spoil wherewith they might buy 
immunity), were punished, but the greater part of them 
escaped ; none of the booty was restored, and the 
pecuniary redress which the Pasha had undertaken to 
enforce for them, had been hitherto so carefully delayed, 
that the hope of ever obtaining it had grown very faint. 
A new Governor had been appointed to the command 
of the place, with stringent orders to ascertain the real 
extent of the losses, and to discover the spoilers, with 
a view of compelling them to make restitution. It was 
found that, notwithstanding the urgency of the instruc- 
tions which the Governor had received, he did not 
push on the affair with the vigour which had been 
expected ; the Jews complained, and either by the 
protection of the British Consul at Damascus, or by 
some other means, had influence enough to induce the 
appointment of a special Commissioner — they called 
him "the Modeer" — whose duty it was to watch for, 
and prevent anything like connivance on the part of 
the Governor, and to push on the investigation with 
vigour and impartiality. 

Such were the instructions with which some few 
weeks since the Modeer came fraught ; the result was 
that the investigation had made no practical advance, 
and that the Modeer, as well as the Governor, was 
living upon terms of affectionate friendship with 
Mohammed Damoor, and the rest of the principal 
spoilers. 

Thus stood the chances of redress for the past, but 
the cause of the agonizing excitement under which 
the Jews of the place now laboured, was recent, and 
justly alarming ; Mohammed Damoor had again gone 
forth into the market place, and lifted up his voice, and 
prophesied a second spoliation of the Israelites. This 

1 It was after the interview which I am talking of, and not 
from the Jews themselves that I learnt this fact. 

R 



242 



EOTHEN 



was grave matter ; the words of such a practical man 
as Mohammed Damoor were not to be despised. I 
fear I must have smiled visibly, for I was greatly 
amused, and even, I think, gratified at the account of 
this second prophecy. Nevertheless, my heart warmed 
towards the poor oppressed Israelites, and I was flat- 
tered, too, in the point of my national vanity at the 
notion of the far-reaching link, by which a Jew in 
Syria, who had been born on the rock of Gibraltar, 
was able to claim me as his fellow-countryman. If I 
hesitated at all between the "impropriety" of inter- 
fering in a matter which was no business of mine, and 
the " horrid shame " of refusing my aid at such a con- 
jecture, I soon came to a very ungentlemanly decision 
— namely, that I would be guilty of the " impropriety," 
and not of the "horrid shame." It seemed to me that 
the immediate arrest of Mohammed Damoor was the 
one thing needful to the safety of the Jews, and I felt 
confident, (for reasons which I have already mentioned 
in speaking of the Nablous affair) that I should be 
able to obtain this result by making a formal applica- 
tion to the Governor. I told my applicants that I 
would take this step on the following morning ; they 
were very grateful, and were for a moment much 
pleased at the prospect of safety which might thus be 
opened to them, but the deliberation of a minute 
entirely altered their views, and filled them with new 
terror ; they declared, that any attempt, or pretended 
attempt on the part of the Governor to arrest Mo- 
hammed Damoor would certainly produce an im- 
mediate movement of the whole Mussulman popula- 
tion, and a consequent massacre and robbery of the 
Israelites. My visitors went out, and occupied con- 
siderable time, if I rightly remember, in consulting 
their brethren, but all agreed that their present peril- 
ous, and painful position was better than the certain, 
and immediate attack which would be made if Mo- 
hammed Damoor were seized — that their second estate 
would be worse than their first. I myself did not 



THE PROPHET DAMOOR 



think that this would be the case, but I could not of 
course, force my aid upon the people against their 
will, and moreover the day fixed for the fulfilment of 
this second prophecy was not very close at hand ; a 
little delay, therefore, in providing against the impend- 
ing danger, would not necessarily be fatal. The men 
now confessed that although they had come with so 
much mystery, and, as they thought, at so great a risk 
to ask my assistance, they were unable to suggest any 
mode in which I could aid them, except, indeed, by 
mentioning their grievances to the Consul-general at 
Damascus. This I promised to do, and this I did. 

My visitors were very thankful to me for the readi- 
ness which I had shewn to intermeddle in their affairs, 
and the grateful wives of the principal Jews sent to me 
many compliments, with choice wines, and elaborate 
sweetmeats. 

The course of my travels soon drew me so far from 
Safet, that I never heard how the dreadful day passed 
off which had been fixed for the accomplishment of the 
second prophecy. If the predicted spoliation was pre- 
vented, poor Mohammed Damoor must have been 
forced, I suppose, to say that he had prophesied in a 
metaphorical sense. This would be a sad falling off 
from the brilliant and substantial success of the first 
experiment. 



CHAPTER XXVII 



DAMASCUS 



OR a part of two days I wound under the base of 



the snow-crowned Djibel el Sheik, and then en- 
tered upon a vast, and desolate plain, rarely pierced at 
intervals by some sort of withered stem. The earth in 
its length, and its breadth, and all the deep universe 
of sky, was steeped in light, and heat. On I rode 
through the fire, but long before evening came, there 
were straining eyes that saw, and joyful voices that 
announced the sight — of Shaum Shereef — the " Holy," 
the " Blessed" Damascus. 

But that which at last I reached with my longing 
eyes, was not a speck in the horizon, gradually expand- 
ing to a group of roofs and walls, but a long, low line 
of blackest green, that ran right across in the dis- 
tance from East to West. And this, as I approached, 
grew deeper — grew wavy in its outline ; soon forest 
trees shot up before my eyes, and robed their broad 
shoulders so freshly, that all the throngs of olives as 
they rose into view looked sad in their proper dimness. 
There were even now no houses to see, but only the 
minarets peered out from the midst of shade into the 
glowing sky, and bravely touched the Sun. There 
seemed to be here no mere city, but rather a province, 
wide, and rich, that bounded the torrid waste. 

Until within a year or two of the time at which I 
went there, Damascus had kept up so much of the old 
bigot zeal against Christians, or rather against Euro- 
peans, that no one dressed as a Frank could have 




DAMASCUS 



245 



dared to shew himself in the streets ; but the firmness 
and temper of Mr. Farren, who hoisted his flag in the 
city as Consul-general for the district, had soon put an 
end to all intolerance of Englishmen. Damascus was 
safer than Oxford. 1 When I entered the city, in my 
usual dress, there was but one poor fellow that wagged 
his tongue, and him, in the open streets, Dthemetri 
horse-whipped. During my stay I went wherever I 
chose, and attended the public baths without molesta- 
tion. Indeed my relations with the pleasanter portion 
of the Mahometan population, were upon a much better 
footing here than at most other places. 

In the principal streets of Damascus there is a path 
for foot passengers, which is raised, I think, a foot or 
two above the bridle-road. Until the arrival of the 
British Consul-general, none but a Mussulman had 
been permitted to walk upon the upper way ; Mr. 
Farren would not, of course, suffer that the humiliation 
of any such exclusion should be submitted to by an 
Englishman, and I always walked upon the raised 
path as free and unmolested as if I had been striding 
through Bond Street ; the old usage was, however, 
maintained with as much strictness as ever against the 
Christian Rayahs, and Jews ; not one of them could 
have set his foot upon the privileged path without en- 
dangering his life. 

I was lounging one day, I remember, along " the 

1 An enterprising American traveller, Mr. Everett, lately con- 
ceived the bold project of penetrating to the University of 
Oxford, and this, notwithstanding that he had been in his in- 
fancy (they begin very young those Americans) an Unitarian 
preacher. Having a notion, it seems, that the Ambassadorial 
character would protect him from insult, he adopted the stratagem 
of procuring credentials from his government as Minister Pleni- 
potentiary at the Court of her Britannic Majesty ; he also wore 
the exact costume of a Trinitarian, but all his contrivances were 
vain; Oxford disdained, and rejected him (not because he repre- 
sented a swindling community, but) because that his infantine 
sermons were strictly remembered against him ; the enterprise 
failed. 



246 



EOTHEN 



paths of the faithful," when a Christian Rayah from the 
bridle-road below saluted me with such earnestness, and 
craved So anxiously to speak, and be spoken to, that 
he soon brought me to a halt ; he had nothing to tell, 
except only the glory, and exultation with which he 
saw a fellow Christian stand level with the imperious 
Mussulmans ; perhaps he had been absent from the 
place for some time, for otherwise I hardly know how 
it could have happened that my exaltation was the first 
instance he had seen. His joy was great ; so strong, 
and strenuous was England, (Lord Palmerston reigned 
in those days) that it was a pride, and delight for a 
Syrian Christian to look up, and say that the English- 
man's faith was his too; if I was vexed at all that I 
could not give the man a lift, and shake hands with 
him on level ground, there was no alloy to his pleasure; 
he followed me on, not looking to his own path, but 
keeping his eyes on me ; he saw, as he thought, and 
said (for he came with me on to my quarters) the 
period of the Mahometan's absolute ascendancy — the 
beginning of the Christian's. He had so closely asso- 
ciated the insulting privilege of the path with actual 
dominion, that seeing it now in one instance aban- 
doned, he looked for the quick coming of European 
troops. His lips only whispered, and that tremulously, 
but his fiery eye spoke out their triumph in long, and 
loud hurrahs ! " I, too, am a Christian. My foes are 
the foes of the English. We are all one people, and 
Christ is our King." 

If I poorly deserved, yet I liked this claim of brother- 
hood. Not all the warnings which I heard against 
their rascality could hinder me from feeling kindly 
towards my fellow-Christians in the East. English 
travellers, from a habit perhaps of depreciating sect- 
arians in their own country, are apt to look down upon 
the Oriental Christians as being " dissenters " from the 
established religion of a Mahometan Empire. I never 
did thus. By a natural perversity of disposition, which 
my nursemaids called contrariness, I felt the more 



DAMASCUS 



247 



strongly for my creed when I saw it despised among 
men. I quite tolerated the Christianity of Mahometan 
countries notwithstanding its humble aspect, and the 
damaged character of its followers ; I went further, 
and extended some sympathy towards those who, with 
all the claims of superior intellect, learning, and in- 
dustry, were kept down under the heel of the Mussul- 
mans by reason of their having our faith. I heard, as 
I fancied, the faint echo of an old Crusader's conscience, 
that whispered, and said, " Common cause ! " The 
impulse was, as you may suppose, much too feeble to 
bring me into trouble — it merely influenced my actions 
in a way thoroughly characteristic of this poor, sluggish 
century — that is, by making me speak almost as civilly 
to the followers of Christ as I did to their Mahometan 
foes. 

This "Holy" Damascus, this "earthly paradise" of 
the Prophet, so fair to the eyes, that he dared not trust 
himself to tarry in her blissful shades, she is a city of 
hidden palaces, of copses, and gardens, and fountains, 
and bubbling streams. The juice of her life is the 
gushing, and ice-cold torrent that tumbles from the 
snowy sides of Anti-Lebanon. Close along on the 
river's edge through seven sweet miles of rustling 
boughs, and deepest shade, the city spreads out her 
whole length ; as a man falls flat, face forward on the 
brook, that he may drink, and drink again, so Damas- 
cus, thirsting for ever, lies down with her lips to the 
stream, and clings to its rushing waters. 

The chief places of public amusement, or, rather, of 
public relaxation, are the baths, and the great cafe ; 
this last, which is frequented at night by most of the 
wealthy men, and by many of the humbler sort, consists 
of a number of sheds very simply framed, and built in a 
labyrinth of running streams, which foam, and roar on 
every side. The place is lit up in the simplest manner 
by numbers of small, pale lamps, strung upon loose 
cords, and so suspended from branch to branch, that 
the light, though it looks so quiet amongst the darken- 



248 



EOTHEN 



ing foliage, yet leaps, and brightly flashes, as it falls 
upon the troubled waters. All around, and chiefly 
upon the very edge of the torrents, groups of people 
are tranquilly seated. They all drink coffee, and inhale 
the cold fumes of the narguile ; they talk rather gently 
the one to the other, or else are silent. A father will 
sometimes have two, or three of his boys around him, 
but the joyousness of an Oriental child is all of the 
sober sort, and never disturbs the reigning calm of the 
land. 

It has been generally understood, I believe, that the 
houses of Damascus are more sumptuous than those of 
any other city in the East. Some of these — said to be 
the most magnificent in the place — I had an oppor- 
tunity of seeing. 

Every rich man's house stands detached from its 
neighbours, at the side of a garden, and it is from this 
cause, no doubt, that the city has hitherto escaped de- 
struction. You know some parts of Spain, but you 
have never, I think, been in Andalusia ; if you had, I 
could easily shew you the interior of a Damascene 
house, by referring you to the Alhambra, or Alcanzar 
of Seville. The lofty rooms are adorned with a rich 
inlaying of many colours, and illuminated writing on 
the walls. The floors are of marble. One side of any 
room intended for noon-day retirement is generally 
laid open to a quadrangle, in the centre of which there 
dances the jet of a fountain. There is no furniture 
that can interfere with the cool, palace-like emptiness 
of the apartments. A divan (which is a low, and 
doubly broad sofa,) runs round the three walled sides 
of the room ; a few Persian carpets (which ought to be 
called Persian rugs, for that is the word which indicates 
their shape and dimension,) are sometimes thrown 
about near the divan ; they are placed without order, 
the one partly lapping over the other, and thus dis- 
posed, they give to the room an appearance of uncaring 
luxury ; except these, (of which I saw few, for the time 
was summer, and fiercely hot,) there is nothing to 



DAMASCUS 



249 



obstruct the welcome air, and the whole of the marble 
floor from one divan to the other, and from the head of 
the chamber across to the murmuring fountain, is 
thoroughly open, and free. 

So simple as this is Asiatic luxury ! — The Oriental 
is not a contriving animal — there is nothing intricate 
in his magnificence. The impossibility of handing 
down property from father to son for any long period 
consecutively, seems to prevent the existence of those 
traditions by which, with us, the refined modes of 
applying wealth are made known to its inheritors. 
We know that in England a newly made rich man can- 
not, by taking thought, and spending money, obtain 
even the same-looking furniture as a Gentleman. The 
complicated character of an English establishment 
allows room for subtle distinctions between that which 
is comme il faut, and that which is not. All such re- 
finements are unknown in the East — the Pasha and the 
peasant have the same tastes. The broad, cold marble 
floor — the simple couch — the air freshly waving through 
a shady chamber — a verse of the Koran emblazoned 
on the walls— the sight and the sound of falling water 
— the cold, fragrant smoke of the narguile, and a small 
collection of wives, and children in the inner apart- 
ments — all these, the utmost enjoyments of the grandee, 
are yet such as to be appreciable by the humblest 
Mussulman in the empire. 

But its gardens are the delight — the delight, and the 
pride of Damascus ; they are not the formal parterres 
which you might expect from the Oriental taste ; they 
rather bring back to your mind the memory of some 
dark old shrubbery in our northern isle, that has been 
charmingly un-" kept up" for many and many a day. 
When you see a rich wilderness of wood in decent 
England, it is like enough that you see it with some 
soft regrets. The puzzled old woman at the lodge can 
give small account of " The family." She thinks it is 
" Italy" that has made the whole circle of her world so 
gloomy, and sad. You avoid the house in lively dread 



250 



EOTHEN 



of a lone housekeeper, but you make your way on by 
the stables ; you remember that gable with all its 
neatly nailed trophies of fitches, and hawks, and owls, 
now slowly falling to pieces — you remember that stable, 
and that, but the doors are all fastened that used to be 
standing ajar — the paint of things painted is blistered, 
and cracked — grass grows in the yard — just there, in 
October mornings, the keeper would wait with the dogs 
and the guns — no keeper now — you hurry away, and 
gain the small wicket that used to open to the touch of 
a lightsome hand — it is fastened with a padlock — (the 
only new-looking thing) — and is stained with thick, 
green damp — you climb it, and bury yourself in the 
deep shade, and strive but lazily with the tangling 
briars, and stop for long minutes to judge, and deter- 
mine whether you will creep beneath the long boughs, 
and make them your archway, or whether perhaps you 
will lift your heel, and tread them down underfoot. 
Long doubt, and scarcely to be ended, till you wake 
from the memory of those days when the path was 
clear, and chase that phantom of a muslin sleeve that 
once weighed warm upon your arm. 

Wild as that the nighest woodland of a deserted 
home in England, but without its sweet sadness, is the 
sumptuous garden of Damascus. Forest trees, tall, 
and stately enough, if you could see their lofty crests, 
yet lead a tussling life of it below, with their branches 
struggling against strong numbers of bushes, and wilful 
shrubs. The shade upon the earth is black as night 
High, high above your head, and on every side all 
down to the ground the thicket is hemmed in, and 
choked up by the interlacing boughs that droop with 
the weight of roses, and load the slow air with their 
damask breath. 1 There are no other flowers. Here 
and there, there are patches of ground made clear from 
the cover, and these are either carelessly planted with 

1 The rose trees which I saw were all of the kind we call 
" damask ; " they grow to an immense height, and size. 



DAMASCUS 



251 



some common and useful vegetable, or else are left free 
to the wayward ways of Nature, and bear rank weeds, 
moist-looking, and cool to your eyes, and freshening 
the sense with their earthy, and bitter fragrance. 
There is a lane opened through the thicket, so broad 
in some places, that you can pass along side by side — 
in some, so narrow (the shrubs are for ever encroach- 
ing) that you ought, if you can, to go on the first, and 
hold back the bough of the rose tree. And through 
this wilderness there tumbles a loud rushing stream, 
which is halted at last in the lowest corner of the 
garden, and there tossed up in a fountain by the side 
of the simple alcove. This is all. 

Never for an instant will the people of Damascus 
attempt to separate the idea of bliss from these wild 
gardens, and rushing waters. Even where your best 
affections are concerned, and you — prudent preachers 
" hold hard," and turn aside when they come near the 
mysteries of the happy state, and we, (prudent preachers 
too) we will hush our voices, and never reveal to finite 
beings the joys of the " Earthly Paradise." 



CHAPTER XXVIII 



PASS OF THE LEBANON 

THE ruins of Baalbec!" Shall I scatter the 
vague, solemn thoughts, and all the airy phan- 
tasies which gather together, when once those words 
are spoken, that I may give you instead, tall columns, 
and measurements true, and phrases built with ink ? — 
No, no ; the glorious sound shall still float on as of 
yore, and still hold fast upon your brain with their own 
dim, and infinite meaning. 

Come ! Baalbec is over ; I got " rather well " out 
of that. 

The pass by which I crossed the Lebanon is like, I 
think, in its features to one which you must know, 
namely, that of the Foorca in the Bernese Oberland. 
For a great part of the way I toiled rather painfully 
through the dazzling snow, but the labour of ascending 
added to the excitement with which I looked for the 
summit of the pass. The time came. There was a 
minute in the which, I saw nothing but the steep, white 
shoulder of the mountain, and there was another 
minute, and that the next, which shewed me a nether 
Heaven of fleecy clouds that floated along far down in 
the air beneath me, and shewed me beyond, the breadth 
of all Syria west of the Lebanon. But chiefly I clung 
with my eyes to the dim, steadfast line of the sea which 
closed my utmost view ; I had grown well used of late 
to the people, and the scenes of forlorn Asia — well used 
to tombs, and ruins, to silent cities and deserted plains, 
to tranquil men, and women sadly veiled ; and now 



PASS OF THE LEBANON 253 



that I saw the even plain of the sea, I leapt with an 
easy leap to its yonder shores, and saw all the king- 
doms of the West in that fair path that could lead me 
from out of this silent land straight on into shrill 
Marseilles, or round by the pillars of Hercules, to the 
crash, and roar of London. My place upon this divid- 
ing barrier was as a man's puzzling station in eternity, 
between the birthless Past, and the Future that has no 
end. Behind me I left an old, decrepit World — 
Religions dead and dying — calm tyrannies expiring in 
silence — women hushed, and swathed, and turned into 
waxen dolls —Love flown, and in its stead mere Royal, 
and " Paradise " pleasures. — Before me there waited 
glad bustle and strife, — Love itself, an emulous game, 
— Religion a Cause and a Controversy, well smitten 
and well defended, — men governed by reasons, and 
suasion of speech, — wheels going, — steam buzzing, — a 
mortal race, and a slashing pace, and the Devil taking 
the hindmost, — taking me by Jove, (for that was my 
inner care,) if I lingered too long, upon the difficult 
Pass that leads from Thought to Action. 

I descended and went towards the West. 

The group of Cedars, remaining on this part of the 
Lebanon is held sacred by the Greek Church, on 
account of a prevailing notion that the trees were 
standing at a time when the Temple of Jerusalem was 
built. They occupy three or four acres on the moun- 
tain's side, and many of them are gnarled in a way 
that implies great age, but except these signs I saw 
nothing in their appearance or conduct that tended to 
prove them contemporaries of the cedars employed in 
Solomon's Temple. The final cause to which these 
aged survivors owed their preservation, was explained 
to me in the evening by a glorious old fellow, (a 
Christian Chief,) who made me welcome in the valley 
of Eden. In ancient times, the whole range of the 
Lebanon had been covered with cedars, and as the 
fertile plains beneath became more and more infested 
with Government officers and tyrants of high and low 



254 



EOTHEN 



degree, the people by degrees abandoned them, and 
flocked to the rugged mountains which were less 
accessible to their indolent oppressors. The cedar 
forests gradually shrank under the axe of the encroach- 
ing multitudes, and seemed at last to be on the point 
of disappearing entirely, when an aged Chief who 
ruled in this district, and who had witnessed the great 
change effected even in his own life-time, chose to say 
that some sign or memorial should be left of the vast 
woods with which the mountains had formerly been 
clad, and commanded accordingly that this group of 
trees (which was probably situate at the highest point 
to which the forest had reached,) should remain un- 
touched. The Chief, it seems, was not moved by the 
notion I have mentioned as prevailing in the Greek 
Church, but rather by some sentiment of veneration 
for a great natural feature, — a sentiment akin, perhaps, 
to that old and earthborn Religion, which made men 
bow down to Creation before they had yet learnt how 
to know and worship the Creator. 

The Chief of the valley in which I passed the night 
was a man of large possessions, and he entertained me 
very sumptuously ; he was highly intelligent, and had 
had the sagacity to foresee that Europe would intervene 
authoritatively in the affairs of Syria. Bearing this 
idea in mind, and with a view to give his son an 
advantageous start in the ambitious career for which 
he was destined, he had hired for him a teacher of the 
Italian language, the only accessible European tongue. 
The tutor, however, who was a native of Syria, either 
did not know, or did not choose to teach the European 
forms of address, but contented himself with instruct- 
ing his pupil in the mere language of Italy. This 
circumstance gave me an apportunity (the only one I 
ever had, or was likely to have, 1 ) of hearing the phrases 
of Oriental courtesy in an European tongue. The boy 
was about twelve or thirteen years old, and having the 

1 A Dragoman never interprets in terms the courteous lan- 
guage of the East. 



PASS OF THE LEBANON 255 



advantage of being able to speak to me without the 
aid of an interpreter, he took a very prominent part in 
doing the honours of his father's house. He went 
through his duties with untiring assiduity, and with a 
kind of gracefulness which can scarcely be conveyed 
by mere description to those who are unacquainted 
with the manners of the Asiatics. The boy's address 
resembled a little that of a highly polished, and in- 
sinuating Roman Catholic Priest, but had more of girlish 
gentleness. It was strange to hear him gravely, and 
slowly enunciating the common and extravagant com- 
pliments of the East in good Italian, and in soft, 
persuasive tones ; I recollect that I was particularly 
amused at the gracious obstinacy with which he main- 
tained that the house in which I was so hospitably 
entertained belonged, not to his father, but to me ; to 
say this once, was only to use the common form of 
speech, signifying no more than our sweet word 
" welcome," but the amusing part of the matter was 
that, whenever in the course of conversation I happened 
to speak of his father's house, or the surrounding 
domain, the boy invariably interfered to correct my 
pretended mistake, and to assure me once again with 
a gentle decisiveness of manner that the whole property 
was really, and exclusively mine, and that his father 
had not the most distant pretensions to its ownership. 

I received from my host much, and (as I now know) 
most true information respecting the people of the 
mountains, and their power of resisting Mehemet Ali. 
The Chief gave me very plainly to understand that 
the Mountaineers being dependent upon others for 
bread, and gunpowder, (the two great necessaries of 
martial life,) could not long hold out against a power 
which occupied the plains, and commanded the sea, 
but he also assured me, and that very significantly, 
that, if this source of weakness were provided against, 
the Mountaineers were to be depended upon j he told 
me that, in ten or fifteen days, the Chiefs could bring 
together some fifty thousand fighting men. 



CHAPTER XXIX 



SURPRISE OF SATALIEH 

WHILST I was remaining upon the coast of Syria, 
I had the good fortune to become acquainted 
with the Russian Sataliefsky, 1 a General Officer, who, 
in his youth, had fought, and bled at Borodino, but 
was now better known among Diplomats by the im- 
portant trust committed to him at a period highly 
critical for the affairs of Eastern Europe ; I must not 
tell you his family name ; my mention of his title can 
do him no harm, for it is I, and I only, who have con- 
ferred it, in consideration of the military and diplo- 
matic services performed under my own eyes. 

The General, as well as I, was bound for Smyrna, 
and we agreed to sail together in an Ionian Brigan- 
tine. We did not charter the vessel, but we made our 
arrangement with the Captain upon such terms that 
we could be put ashore upon any part of the coast 
which we might think proper. We sailed, and day 
after day the vessel lay dawdling on the sea with calms 
and feeble breezes for her portion. I, myself, was well 
repaid for the painful restlessness which such weather 
occasions, because I gained from my companion a 
little of that vast fund of interesting knowledge with 
which he was stored — knowledge, a thousand times 
the more highly to be prized, since it was not of 
the sort that is to be gathered from books, but only 



1 A title signifying Transcender or Conqueror of Satalieh. 



SURPRISE OF SATALIEH 257 



>m the lips of those who have acted a part in the 
>rld. 

When, after nine days of sailing, or trying to sail, 
3 found ourselves still hanging by the mainland to 
e north of the Isle of Cyprus, we determined to dis- 
ibark at Satalieh, and to proceed from thence by 
nd. A light breeze favoured our purpose, and it was 
th great delight that we neared the fragrant land, 
id saw our anchor go down in the bay of Satalieh, 
ithin two or three hundred yards of the shore. 
The town of Satalieh 1 is the chief place of the 
ishalik in which it is situate, and its citadel is the 
sidence of the Pasha. We had scarcely dropped 
ir anchor, when a boat from the shore came along- 
de, with officers on board, who announced that the 
rictest orders had been received for maintaining a 
larantine of three weeks against all vessels coming 
om Syria, and directed accordingly that no one from 
e vessel should disembark. In reply, we sent a 
essage to the Pasha, setting forth the rank and titles 
* the General, and requiring permission to go ashore, 
fter a while the boat came again alongside, and the 
rlcers, declaring that the orders received from Con- 
antinople were imperative, and unexceptional, form- 
ly enjoined us in the name of the Pasha, to abstain 
om any attempt to land. 

I had been hitherto much less impatient of our slow 
>yage, than my gallant friend, but this opposition 
ade the smooth sea seem to me like a prison from 
hich I must, and would break out. I had an un- 
Dunded faith in the feebleness of Asiatic Potentates, 
id I proposed that we should set the Pasha at de- 
ince. The General had been worked up to a state of 
ost painful agitation by the idea of being driven 
om the shore which smiled so pleasantly before his 
;es, and he adopted my suggestion with rapture. 

1 Spelt " Attalia" and sometimes "Adalia " in English books, 
id maps. 



258 EOTHEN 
We determined to land. 

To approach the sweet shore after a tedious voyage, 
and then to be suddenly, and unexpectedly prohibited 
from landing, — this is so maddening to the temper, 
that no one who had ever experienced the trial would 
say, that even the most violent impatience of such 
restraint is wholly inexcusable. I am not going to 
pretend, however, that the course which we chose to 
adopt on this occasion can be perfectly justified. Tljie 
impropriety of a traveller's setting at nought the regu- 
lations of a foreign state is clear enough, and the bad 
taste of compassing such a purpose by mere gasconad- 
ing, is still more glaringly plain. I knew perfectly 
well that if the Pasha understood his duty, and had 
energy enough to perform it, he would order out a fijle 
of soldiers the moment we landed, and cause us boj:l 
to be shot upon the beach, without allowing mojre 
contact than might be absolutely necessary for the 
purpose of making us stand fire, but I also firmjly 
believed that the Pasha would not see the line jof 
conduct which he ought to adopt nearly so well as 
I did, and that even if he did know his duty, Ijie 
would never be able to find resolution enough to per- 
form it. j 

We ordered the boat to be got in readiness, and tme 
officers on shore seeing these preparations, gathered 
together a number of guards who assembled upon the 
sands ; we saw that great excitement prevailed, arjid 
that messengers were continually going to and fjro 
between the shore, and the citadel. Our Captain, opt 
of compliment to his Excellency, had provided tljie 
vessel with a Russian war-flag, which he had hoisted 
alternately with the Union Jack, and we agreed thjat 
we would attempt our disembarkation under this, the 
Russian standard ; I was glad when we came to that 
resolution, for I should have been sorry to engage the 
honoured flag of England in such an affair as that 
which we were undertaking. The Russian ensign was 
therefore committed to one of the sailors who took his 



SURPRISE OF SATALIEH 259 



station at the stern of the boat. We gave particular 
instructions to the Captain of the Brigantine, and 
when all was ready, the General and I, with our re- 
spective servants, got into the boat, and were slowly 
rowed towards the shore. The guards gathered toge- 
ther at the point for which we were making, but when 
they saw that our boat went on without altering her 
course, they ceased to stand very still j none of them 
ran away, or even shrank back, but they looked as if 
the pack were being shuffled, every man seeming 
desirous to change places with his neighbour. They 
were still at their post, however, when our oars went 
in, and the bow of our boat ran up — well up upon the 
beach. 

The General was lame by an honourable wound 
which he had gained at Borodino, and required some 
assistance in getting out of the boat ; I, therefore, 
landed the first. My instructions to the Captain were 
attended to with the most perfect accuracy, for scarcely 
had my foot indented the sand, when the four six- 
pounders of the Brigantine sublimely rolled out their 
brute thunder. Precisely as I had expected, the guards, 
and all the people who had gathered about them, gave 
way under the shock produced by the mere sound of 
guns, and we were all allowed to disembark without 
the least molestation. 

We immediately formed a little column, or rather, 
as I should have called it, a procession, for we had no 
fighting aptitude in us, and were only trying, as it 
were, how far we could go in frightening full-grown 
children. First marched the sailor with the Russian 
flag of war bravely flying in the breeze ; then came the 
General and I ; then our servants, and lastly, if I 
rightly recollect, two more of the Brigantine's crew. 
Our flag-bearer entered into the spirit of the enter- 
prise, and bore the standard aloft with so much of 
pomp and dignity, that I found it exceedingly hard to 
keep a grave countenance. We advanced towards the 
castle, but the people had now had time to recover 



260 



EOTHEN 



from the effect of the six-pounders, (which were only, 
of course, loaded with powder,) and they could not 
help seeing, not only the weakness of our party, but 
the very slight amount of pomp and power which it 
seemed to imply ; they began to hang round us more 
closely, and just as this reaction was beginning, the 
General, who was perfectly unacquainted with the 
Asiatic character, thoughtlessly turned round, in order 
to speak to one of the servants ; the effect of this slight 
move was magical ; the people thought we were going 
to give way, and instantly closed round us. In two 
words, and with one touch, I shewed my comrade the 
danger he was running, and in the next instant we 
were both advancing more pompously than ever. Some 
minutes afterwards there was a second appearance of 
reaction, followed again by wavering, and indecision on 
the part of the Pasha's people, but at length it seemed 
to be understood that we should go unmolested into 
the audience hall. 

Constant communication had been going on between 
the receding crowd and the Pasha, and so when we 
reached the gates of the citadel, we saw that prepara- 
tions were made for giving us an awe-striking recep- 
tion. Parting at once from the sailors, and our servants, 
the General and I were conducted into the audience 
hall ; and there, at least, I suppose, the Pasha hoped 
that he would confound us by his greatness. The hall 
was nothing more than a large white-washed room ; 
Oriental potentates have a pride in that sort of sim- 
plicity, when they can contrast it with the exhibition of 
power, and this the Pasha was able to do, for the lower 
end of the hall was filled with his officers ; these men, 
of whom I thought there were about fifty or sixty, were 
all handsomely, though plainly, dressed in the military 
frock-coats of Europe ; they stood in mass, and so as 
to present a hollow, semicircular front towards the 
upper end of the hall, at which the Pasha sat ; they 
opened a narrow lane for us when we entered, and as 
soon as we had passed they again closed up their 



SURPRISE OF SATALIEH 261 



ranks. An attempt was made to induce us to remain 
at a respectful distance from his Mightiness ; to have 
yielded in this point would have been fatal to our 
success, — perhaps to our lives ; but the General and I 
had already determined upon the place which we 
should take, and we rudely pushed on towards the 
upper end of the hall. 

Upon the divan, and close up against the right 
hand corner of the room there sat the Pasha — his 
limbs gathered in — the whole creature coiled up like 
an adder. His cheeks were deadly pale, and his lips 
perhaps had turned white, for without moving a muscle 
the man impressed me with an immense idea of the 
wrath within him. He kept his eyes inexorably fixed, 
as if upon vacancy, and with the look of a man 
accustomed to refuse the prayers of those who sue for 
life. We soon discomposed him, however, from this 
studied fixity of feature, for we marched straight up to 
the divan, and sat down, the Russian close to the 
Pasha, and I by the side of the Russian. This act 
astonished the attendants, and plainly disconcerted 
the Pasha; he could no longer maintain the glassy 
stillness of the eyes which he had affected, and evidently 
became much agitated. At the feet of the Satrap 
there stood a trembling Italian ; this man was a sort 
of medico in the potentate's service, and now, in the 
absence of our attendants, he was to act as inter- 
preter. The Pasha caused him to tell us that we had 
openly defied his authority, and had forced our way 
upon shore in the teeth of his own officers. 

Up to this time I had been the planner of the enter- 
prise, but now that the moment had come when all 
would depend upon able, and earnest speechifying, I 
felt at once the immense superiority of my gallant 
friend, and gladly left to him the whole conduct of 
the discussion; indeed he had vast advantages over 
me, not only by his superior command of language, 
and his far more spirited style of address, but also in 
his consciousness of a good cause, for whilst I felt 
S 2 



262 



EOTHEN 



myself completely in the wrong, his Excellency had 
really worked himself up to believe that the Pasha's 
refusal to permit our landing was a gross outrage, and 
insult. Therefore, without deigning to defend our 
conduct, he at once commenced a spirited attack upon 
the Pasha. The poor Italian doctor translated one or 
two sentences to the Pasha, but he evidently mitigated 
their import ; the Russian, growing warm, insisted 
upon his attack with redoubled enery, and spirit ; but 
the medico, instead of translating, began to shake 
violently with terror, and at last he came out with his 
" non ardisco," and fairly confessed that he dared not 
interpret fierce words to his master. 

Now then, at a time when everything seemed to de- 
pend upon the effect of speech, we were left without 
an interpreter. 

But this very circumstance, which, at first, appeared 
so unfavourable turned out to be advantageous. The 
General, finding that he could not have his words 
translated, ceased to speak in Italian, and recurred to 
his accustomed French ; he became eloquent ; no one 
present, except myself, understood one syllable of 
what he was saying, but he had drawn forth his pass- 
port, and the energy, and violence with which, as be 
spoke, he pointed to the graven Eagle of Russia began 
to make an impression ; the Pasha saw at his side 
a man, who not only seemed to be entirely without 
fear, but to be raging with just indignation, and thence- 
forward he plainly began to think that in some way or 
other, (he could not tell how,) he must certainly have 
been in the wrong. In a little time he was so much 
shaken, that the Italian ventured to resume his inter- 
pretation, and my comrade had again the opportunity 
of pressing his attack upon the Pasha ; his argument, 
if I rightly recollect its import, was to this effect — " If 
the vilest Jews were to come into the harbour, you 
would but forbid them to land, and force them to per- 
form quarantine, yet this is the very course, O Pasha, 
which your rash officers dared to think of adopting with 



SURPRISE OF SATALIEH 263 



us / — those mad, and reckless men would have actually 
dealt towards a Russian General Officer, and an Eng- 
lish Gentleman as if they had been wretched Israel- 
ites ! Never, never will we submit to such an in- 
dignity. His Imperial Majesty knows how to protect 
his nobles from insult, and would never endure that a 
General of his army should be treated in matter of 
quarantine, as though he were a mere Eastern Jew ! " 
This argument told with great effect ; the Pasha fairly 
admitted that he felt its weight, and he now only 
struggled to obtain a compromise, which might seem 
to save his dignity ; he wanted us to perform a quaran- 
tine of one day for form's sake, and in order to shew 
his people that he was not utterly defied, but finding 
that we were inexorable, he not only abandoned his 
attempt, but promised to supply us with horses. 

When the discussion had arrived at this happy con- 
clusion, tchibouques and coffee were brought, and we 
passed, I think, nearly an hour in friendly conver- 
sation. The Pasha, it now appeared, had once been a 
prisoner of war in Russia, and the conviction of the 
Emperor's vast power, which he must have acquired 
during his captivity, probably rendered him more alive 
than an untravelled Turk would have been to the force 
of my comrade's eloquence. 

The Pasha now gave us a generous feast ; our 
promised horses w r ere brought without much delay ; I 
gained my loved saddle once more, and when the 
moon got up, and touched the heights of Taurus, we 
were joyfully winding our way through one of his 
rugged defiles. 



THE END. 



V 




Ill 



INDEX OF NAMES 



Aboo Goosh ("Father of 
lies"), Governor of Jeru- 
salem, 228, 235. 

" Admiral Nicolau," 57. 

Adrianople, 20. 

Ali Djoubran, Sheik, 127, 131. 

"Amy," 22. 

Araba, Turkish vehicle, 21, 23. 
" Arabian Nights, The," 59. 
Arabs of the Jordan, 123. 

Baffa (Paphos), 65. 
Bairam, festival of, 178. 
Balcan, the, 20. 
Bedouin Arabs, 79, 153, 206, 

220; Shiek, 167. 
Belgrade, 1, 3. 
Bethlehem, 145. 
Beyrout, 69. 
Bivouac, a first, 115. 
" Brocas clump," 18. 
Byron, Lord, 87. 

Cairo, plague, 174 ; banker, 
180; slave dealers, 186; ma- 
gician, 187 ; Italian doctor, 
191 ; English doctor, 196. 

Calvary, Mount, 136. 

Camels, customs of, 219. 

Cana of Galilee, 105. 

' ' Carrigaholt, " 43, 50. 

Chatham, Lord, 75. 

"Compromised" person, a, 
2 n. , 28, 174. 

Constantinople, 24 ; the Otto- 
man lady, 29 ; buying and 
selling, 31. 



Cypriote women, 67. 
Cyprus, 64. 

Damascus, 100, 244 ; the Chris- 
tian Rajah, 246 ; great cafe\ 
247 ; gardens, 249. 

Dead Sea, the, 119; swimming 
in, 122. 

Desert, daily life in the, 158. 

Djesr el Medjame (bridge over 
the Jordan), no. 

Djibel el Sheik, 244. 

Djoun (Lady H. Stanhope's 
residence), 73, 83. 

Dromedary, the, 204. 

Druses, 69. 

Dthemetri (interpreter), 72, 

114, 121, I24, I35, I49, 205, 
232. 

Eden, valley of, 253 ; chief of, 

and his son, 254. 
El Arish, in, (Wady) 220. 
Enfantin, Pere, and Lady H. 

Stanhope, 83. 
Englishmen, travelling, 163. 
English officer in the Desert, 

165. 

Eton, 18 ; Dr. Keate, 188 ; 
"lag-remove," 99; toast, 
161. 

Everett, Mr. , at Oxford, 245 n. 

Farren, Mr., English consul 
at Damascus, 245. 

Galilee, Sea of, 106. 



266 



EOTHEN 



Gatieh (oasis), 162. 
Gaza, 149, 222. 
Giuseppini's Hotel, Pera, 25, 
44. 

Greek family at Limesol, 62. 
Greek rayahs, 46 ; religion, 49 ; 
sailors, 53. 

Holy cities of the Jews, 107, 
239. 

Holy places of Palestine, 94 n. 
Holy Sepulchre, the, 135. 
Homer, 35. 

Hydriot mate, the, 55, 61. 

Ibrahim Pasha, 83, 85, 126 ; 

at the Holy Sepulchre, 139. 
Israelites, the Passage of the 

Red Sea, 212. 

Jackals in the Desert, 166. 

Jericho (Rihah), 131. 

Jerusalem, Plague at, 102 ; 
pilgrims, 132 ; as a place of 
residence, 144 ; holy sites at, 
137. 

Jews at Smyrna, 42 ; of Safet 
persecuted, 240. 

Jordan, passage of, 129 ; pil- 
grims bathing, 142. 

"Julia," 68. 

Keate, Dr., 18, 188. 

Lamartine and Lady H. Stan- 
hope, 87, 90. 

Lebanon, 73 ; cedars of, 253. 

Levantine banker at Cairo, 
the, 180. 

Limesol, Greek family at, 62. 

Mariam, the perverted bride, 
234. 

" Marie of Anjou, 96. 

' ' Marlen," church bells of, 169. 

Mehemet Ali, 85, 185, 231. 



Methley, 4, 20, 30, 35, 38, 41, 

43, 163. 
Miller, Larrey, 18. 
Milnes, 78, 154 n. 
Mohammed Damoor, 240. 
Monks in Syria, 98. 
Moostapha Pasha, of Belgrade, 

5. 

Moostapha, the Tatar courier, 

12, 23, 24. 
Mysseri, 12, 72, 196, et passim. 

Nablous, 227. 

Napoleon at Suez, 212, 213. 
Narguile, 5 n. 

Nazarene guide, the, 105, no, 

115, 121. 
Nazareth, 94. 
Nicholas, St., 56. 

Okes, 18. 

Olympus (Mysian), 34. 
Olympus in Cyprus, 64. 
Osman Effendi of Cairo, 174. 
Our Lady of Bitterness, xxi. 

Paphos, 64. 

Pilgrims to Jerusalem, 132. 

Plague contagion, 27, 28, 173 n. , 
test of, 193. 

Plague at Cairo, 174; at Con- 
stantinople, 27 ; and the 
monks of Jerusalem, 101. 

Propontis, 23. 

Pyramids, the, 198. 

Red Sea, the, 206, 212. 

Safet (Holy City), 107 n., 239. 
Sakkara, pyramids at, 200. 
Samothrace, 40. 
Sataliefsky, General, 256. 
Satalieh, 257. 
Scamander, 38. 
Selim (the Arab), 222. 
Seralin, 1. 



"Shereef," 72, 94, 105, 114, 
I 3 I - 

11 Sir Robert," 93. 
Smyrna (Izmir), 42 ; women 

of, 51, 67. 
Sphynx, the, 202. 
St. Simonians and the ' ' mystic 

mother," 83. 
Stamboul, 26. 

Stanhope, Lady Hester, her 
appearance, 75 ; her death, 
84 n. 

"Steel" (Methley's servant), 
4. 23. 

Suez, Governor of, 215. 
Suridgees, 14. 



INDEX OF NAMES 267 

' Sweet Lady Anne," 161. 



Taurus, 263. 
Tennyson quoted, 106. 
" Teskeri," A (certificate), 128, 
131. 

Thorp, fellow of Trinity, 213. 
Tiberias (Tabarieh), 107, 2^9. 
"Twelve, The," 78. 

Ulysses, voyage of, 56. 

Warburton, Eliot, 84 n., 203. 

Yashmak, 30 n. 



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